Welcome to Big Blend Radio's Thursday Golden Academic Show where we explore what you can experience in the state of Louisiana's oldest city. Welcome everybody! You know what? It is almost fall, y'all. I get to say that, right? Because we're going to nackadish Louisiana to talk about end of summer and early fall events and we have a special guest joining us. Of course, you know Nicole Connell, she joins us every third Tuesday here to talk about what's going on in nackadish, our favorite place in the state of Louisiana. It is the oldest city. You know, we always talk about it being founded in 1714. It is the original French colony of Louisiana and it is just one of these places you really need to go to. The downtown is historic, it's got a brick road, it's got cane river lake, it's got an amphitheater, all kinds of shops and restaurants, historic architecture, churches, museums, um, listen, the downtown is cool, it's a historic district and then there's also the historic sites like Oakland Plantation and Magnolium Plantation which is all part of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park, there's Melrose Plantation, there is the fort, there's so many places, it's also part of the El Camino Real de Los Tejas National Historical Trail. Phew, are we getting there, there's so much to it, so welcome back Nicole, how are you? Hey, I'm good, how are you? I'm doing good, I'm excited to have you back on the show and you have a special guest, your new executive director, I'm excited to have her join us page a lot, welcome to the show, how are you? I'm good, thanks for having me. So tell me page, Nicole, you know, has told me that this is not your first time in Nacodish. It is not, my husband actually grew up in Nacodish and my in-laws have lived in Nacodish since they started college here back, way back in the 50s, so deep roots here for my husband's family which has just led me to have just a strong love of Nacodish, pretty much my whole adult life, so very special to be here. Oh, that is awesome, what are some of the favorite things for you when you think about Nacodish and now, you know, being there, because I know, didn't you live in the Midwest for a while? I did, I lived in Athens, Ohio for almost 25 years, I'm originally from Baton Rouge and it's funny when I think about the things I love about Nacodish, you listed up all the great things that we are known so well for, but for me it really is just being sort of in the midst of the essence of Nacodish, beautiful live oak trees and landscaping, of course a stunning river that's just right here as part of our historic landmark district here off the front street, the beautiful buildings and the architecture, all of that just contributes to just a good feeling to be here in this part of the world. Yeah, that is, that's, I think you kind of captured it for Nancy and I too, we just feel cozy when we get to Nacodish and the people are so friendly and you just kind of feel at home, you know, it's not our home, but I feel like it is, we always threaten to move there once we get off the road traveling the country, we're like, I don't know, we could just move here, be all right, you know, it would be, it would be just all right with us if you chose to do that and so many people have, I think that's the sort of the thing about Nacodish is that we welcome everybody and a lot of people who are here have strong ties, their families have been here, their graduates of Northwestern State University or they have previously owned a camp or a summer home here and have decided to retire or move their business here, but everyone comes back to the same reason and that is that great southern hospitality and what it just feels like to be here, the slow pace, the general beauty of things everywhere you go and knowing that there's every corner that you turn, there's a smiling face looking back at you and I'd love that about our community. I do too and you know, it doesn't even feel like a city, I know they say it's a city, the oldest city, the oldest settlement, but it does not feel like a city to me whatsoever. It is a great small town, a great southern small town, but also just with its history, a great American small town, almost an iconic small town with the number of assets that we have in place for people to enjoy. Oh, I agree with you on that for sure, that you know, it's just, it's small town America, we are all going around talking about, oh, the loss of it, right? Right. And you know, go search towns out like, you know, Nakadish and it is a city and it does have an actual city, you know, right, it does, it's, it's a whole new function in place. We have all that. Yes. Everything. I think it has Internet. Internet. It has Internet. It has Internet. It has Internet. I think it was a small, beautiful town like this and, and we have pretty fast Internet here. Yeah. Oh, I have learned that as a sort of a new resident, you know, when you visit the Internet, you experience this different than when you're actually working here and it's really impressive to me the infrastructure that we have here in Nakadish, especially for being a small town. But, you know, contributions of long time business owners, having the university here, having Northwestern State here as just, it's such an integral part of our community, but it brings technology, it brings education, cultural experiences, and of course, a great support environment to you and all those things work together along with our historical assets and just beautiful town to make it a really truly special place. You know, and you bring up sports, which I know is huge for Nakadish in so many different ways. You've got the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum next to you and Nicole, we talked about that a couple of podcasts ago about the induction ceremony and then you went from that into a lot of other cool events like the folk festival. So you want to catch us up on how those two events went because those are two epic, I mean, you know, then you've got Christmas coming. So that's another epic, you know, we're talking about all the epic events that Nakadish is really on a national, you know, board on for like nationally known for the, I mean, how do you get there? Yeah. You know? Yeah, we had a great turnout for our Sports Hall of Fame induction class, Simone Augustus, to me, one of the best women's basketball players to ever touch the court. She spent all weekend in town. She was just an absolute joy to have here in town. She visited with everyone. She loves Nakadish. She loves Louisiana. She's joining the basketball staff at LSU Women's Basketball. So she gets to come back home. She's just super excited about her future and just is a complete joy to have in town. So we had a great time with her. Thousands of people turned out for the weekend's events, which is a great turnout all the way around. And we really got to honor our Louisiana sports famous. Most of them have gone on to bigger and better things, but they remember where they came from and they came back and joined us for the weekend. So it was a great turnout. Like I said, we had thousands of people in town for the weekend. And then we rolled right into the folk festival, which had a great turnout. Lots of local artisans there. Just had a great time. And again, it was all about getting back to the roots, remembering where we come from here in Louisiana. So great events, great turnout. And you just get to see how much people love Louisiana when you go to events like that. And to think that we have it all right here in Nakadish is such a draw. I agree, I agree. And you know, listen, the folk festival too is my thing. You know, it is, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm, I'm antsy to go back. So you know, we used to always come in July over to Nakadish. It might have to happen again. The Olympics, I was thinking about Nakadish during the Olympics because the actual museum actually houses a lot of Olympic history, right? Am I writing that? Because it does. It does kill Mulkey is one of the women's basketball players in the sports hall of fame. And she had her hand in the Olympics, Olympic basketball at one time, women's basketball at one time. And so lots of reference to Olympians who are from right here in Louisiana. Yeah, I like that. You go, man. Nakadish, go, go, y'all. Go, go, go. That's how I feel about it. You know, you know, we love your, your, your city, right? Yeah. Those skyscrapers. Actually, I think the tallest skyscrapers you have are churches and Nakadish, right? Right. The tallest, the tallest building is our bank downtown. Oh, well, there you go. Yeah. Well, don't rob it anybody. You'll get it. You'll get in trouble, you know. So, so let's talk about, of course, we've got some great events coming up for fall and fall in Nakadish. You guys get the pumpkins out and I mean, you decorate the town town so well for each season. And I know it doesn't feel quite like fall yet, does it? Paige, how are you feeling? Are you feeling still warm or are we heading into that weather? It's still warm here and definitely warmer than we had in the Midwest, but I will be happy. Ask me again how I feel in January when it's not snowing here. Oh, yeah, yeah, let's know this winter for sure. I don't think that's going from Baton Rouge to the Midwest. I was like, well, that's when you kind of go, "Girl, I'm feeling like I'm back in Louisiana right now." It was a little culture shock in so many ways. And, you know, you adjust to the weather, but the food and the culture is really when I miss the most and what I've been so happy to be back in, but yeah, you know, the heat I'm adjusting and it's amazing to me, you know, the world doesn't stop just because it gets a little warm outside and you still see people enjoying the river and enjoying walking on Front Street, getting out into the cassachie, the heat, the heat doesn't hold us back too much here, which I love. No, I mean, that's what we've always come to an academician in July. It's kind of was a historic thing of, you know, it's July and we almost made it to the tea of the same time. And then one day we broke the mold and then we're like, "Well, we better see the area." We got to meet Nicole over Christmas and we were there for the lighting ceremony of Christmas lights and we were, I mean, it was amazing. And so we were like, "Wow, I didn't know Nackadish got cold." Apparently, it does, you know. So it was just weird, but it was like, "What do you mean I'm not going to sweat a little bit?" Yeah, actually, personally, I'll say, I think, you know, as travelers, it's good to actually go to places in all seasons. And that includes the Midwest, by the way, which I've done in the winter. It doesn't mean I'm going to live in it, but it's something to experience to understand the way America lives and how they live, like really, to understand how America lives in different seasons when you think it may be too hot for you. I mean, Nackadish, you have Kane River Lake, you've got lakes, you've got rivers, you've got all kinds of things. You've got Cassacchi National Forest that you can get into and hike, which is the only National Forest in the state of Louisiana and it's got a lot of history, not just the natural beauty, but the natural beauty is epic, man. And then Nackadish is seriously epic when it comes to history and it's part of the No Man's Land. You all had privateers and things going out in the waters. You know, stuff went down during that time frame. I feel like they can't go down, but just in a different way, you know, and I think you're so right about visiting a place during all four seasons, because despite what people think in the south and in Louisiana, we do have four seasons. And while it doesn't snow like it does in the Midwest, we still will get occasional sprinkles and it does cool off, but also that's a chance for you to see different things in bloom and see how different the land looks from season to season here, especially in the areas like Nackadish where we see crops. So you'll see cotton, sugarcane, soybeans, corn, sorghum. You see all of these things growing during different times of the year. And to me, that's the best thing that people can do is if they like Nackadish, then hey, you know, come every season and see something that looks different. You go to, like we're talking about the plantations, like Oakland Plantation is a bicentennial farm that people can go and see what's growing and learn about the agriculture historically and what it has become now, see sharecroppers, cabins, and if you go to Magnolia, yes, you're going to see things like slave cabins, but they're the only brick slave cabins I think that are left standing that I know of, especially in the south. And that's part of the history that, you know, some of us may shy away from, but also we can't. And we shouldn't. And you know, Nackadish, I think is one of these communities that is so culturally diverse that everyone gets along and learns to, you know, appreciate each other and as individuals, but also culturally just, it's just a very accepting culture, like you guys have your own culture. Can I just say that? That's a good reason to remind people why the National Park Service is here. And that is because we are culturally diverse, because we have a story that can't be told anywhere else in the world, and that is the story of our Creole population and the culture that exists, particularly around our plantation system here. And I think because we have peacefully co-existed all cultures together since 1714, really, I think that's something that still is so true about us today. And that takes us all the way back, you know, to, again, to what we talked about at first, the feel of being Nackadish. And it is, you know, some communities will use, you know, the more contemporary phrase like inclusive. We have always been that way. And I think it's important now for people to visit and understand what sets us apart, what makes us unique. And I think having our national parks here at our plantations helps to tell that story in a way that really helps to educate people. And it's one of the few places in the United States where you can come and see this story. And it's so huge because it is multicultural, and you also have King River National Heritage Area, which is part of the National Park Service. And I want people to understand this so much because, hey, August 25th is the anniversary of our National Park Service, which was founded in 1860. Think about that, right? And so, yeah, I mean, this is pretty epic when you think about it's coming up. And you can go. They actually are going to be having an event at Oakland Plantation September 21st. We're looking ahead, but it's a field day. Now I know Nicole's going. I know she's going to get in a sack and play sack races. Listen, Paige, I want to have you know, I'm going to be there watching. And Nicole will go, I don't know what's going on with you, but anything athletic, she jumps in. Like, is it the meat pies, you know, you need to go and do this to, you know, balance out what's going on. Why are you going to do this? She's so happily physical and we're all going, you go girl. You're telling you. She doesn't threaten her with a good time. Yeah, but tell us a little bit about that because that sounds like fun because, you know what? You can't, I want to say this, it is so important right now with how are youth or so attached to funds. And it's not just them. And by the way, it's 1916. I don't know why I keep seeing 1860, it's 1916 for the National Park Service. I had to just double check myself. So I don't have to quote it later that I was wrong. But you know, we're so attached to phones and I think like a field day kind of feels like get out there and have some fun in the dirt. The temperatures are cooling on September 16th, right? And you can play all those games that you need. You know, like kids need to, you know, remember the old thing where we had to run with an egg and then like, you know, potatoes and stuff like that and sack races. I mean, do people know about that anymore? Is this, am I talking about something no one knows? Well, I'll tell you one thing that they are having that is very popular here is cornhole. We've got a couple of cornhole tournaments coming up. We've got a professional cornhole league that is now meeting in Akkodesh. And so Oakland, when they have their field day, one of the things that they're going to have is cornhole. So, you know, as they're going to be playing croquet and having some sack races and a lot of people around here may not be familiar with that. But just anybody nine to 99 will know about cornhole in this area. So that's one of the events that they're going to have out there. So, you know, if you're not looking forward to the wiffle ball, you're probably looking forward to the cornhole. I want to do the cornhole. I'm in. Yeah. I learned how to do the cornhole. It just sounds bad. I learned how to cornhole or play cornhole in the Midwest, by the way, in Michigan a couple of years ago and because I've always laughed at it just like because the name is funny to me. But anyway, and then people were asking on podcast like, why did they always get the giggles? And my one friend who's from Kentucky always talking about it said because they are from California. And we don't know about, you know, Californians don't know what cornhole is unless you go to winery now wineries are not doing it. Yeah. Something to do while you're sipping your wine, well, I got into cornhole and all of a sudden I got this weird competitive streak and it didn't matter. I sucked at it. I'm terrible at cornhole. I look like an off like, like, you know, like some weird ballerina trying to be a ballerina and like a knot of ballerina and it's all off and it looks weird and I'm holding this bag and I'm going to do this and it doesn't do anything I wanted to do. It looks so easy and it's not and I'm now like, I'm crazy about it and I still have not really, I think I won maybe one out of 20 games, but I'm incessant about it now. It's like it's weird. You know, I'm mad at myself for my way, my body does it. I'm mad at my body. I'm disassociating from my body on how I did it. I know the reason to come back to the back of the dish. We have lots of cornhole tournaments here. So just add it to your reasons of why you need to come to Naga dish. I mean, if you, if not played cornhole, you should, you know, you know how in friends Courtney Cox got all crazy about stuff like competitive. That's how I was like, and it's, but it's fun. Oh, come on. It's fun. It's better than being on your phone and being competitive. I'm kind of like, that's the thing Naga, there's all of a sudden, what you want to do with your phone is you want to take pictures of everything because it's so gorgeous and idyllic and beautiful. And the people are fun. You want to take photos of fun, but other than that, that's all you want to do with your phone because it's so much fun. But cornhole, man, I want to go. You have no idea. I want to get in there. And I know I'm terrible at it, but I want to do it and I want to be the best. I'm sorry. And then I can go to the brewery after that if I win, right? Yeah. That's exactly it. Yeah. Yep. Okay. I think the brewery should put cornhole in there like they have some, yeah, they have some. Yep. Okay, now we're coming back again, see Riverside Reserve directly across the street from the brewery host a competitive league of cornhole game. So they have a league that comes and does tournaments at Riverside Reserve, which is directly across the street from the brewery. Wow. So you can be at the brewery or you can be a professional at the Riverside Reserve. So it's your breweries like taps, Tobers coming up in October. So everyone watch for that. And if you go to nackadish.com and that's N-A-T-C-H-I-T-O-C-H-E-S.com, I got it, you go there. Then that's the events and the link is in the episode notes because it is hard to spell out and pronounce. If you've never been there, it's N-A-T-C-H-I-T-O-C-H-E-S.com. You go on the calendar there, watch there for tap tober event, that's such a cool event. There is beer involved and raising money for local nonprofits that are very cool. And there is a brewery and when you go to Louisiana, you must have a beat of beer. You must. And a meat pie. And that's the other thing, isn't it meat pie season coming up? I mean, I know it's always meat pie time. It's always meat pie season. But first of all, which used to be a one day event is now like grown. It is. It's a two day, a two day event now. So speaking of cornhole, they are incorporating a cornhole tournament this year. You get paired up with a Northwestern State football player to play as your teammate in a cornhole tournament, which is part fundraiser for the football team and part money in your pocket. So if you win, you win big and you're next to a collegiate football player. So you win all the way around. Oh, wait a minute. So the collegiate football player may be able to help my standing stance, like my leader. Absolutely. I can add a golf. I had a golf lesson from a PGA pro and then like he just looked at me and didn't understand that I have flamingo legs. And I don't know how I had flamingo legs, but I did. So like this is cool. The cornhole and a football player right up by side and then you know, can come later. Right. Enemy pie, enemy pie. Everybody. This is a state delicacy. It is on the list of this is a state recognized dish. Nackadish is known for meat pies. New Orleans may have its bignets, but Nackadish has its meat pies. And I think that's so cool because every place needs to have its own dish. It should because it reflects the culture and the history of the people. And that's what the meat pie does. I mean, the meat pies is like a culmination of all the cultures taking that have lived in Nackadish over years, taking this recipe and just going, well, I'm going to add more of this in there. Well, over here, we're going to do this, right? So that's the cool thing about it, right? Is that it's everyone showing up with their flavor. Yeah, we have we are the proud recipient of the title of Louisiana's official meat pie. You can find the official meat pie recipe on our website. And you can try them out just about every restaurant, gas station, grandma's house and Nackadish has meat pies. And you're on the gas station trail. The food. Yes. Yes. And not for the Louisiana no man's land has a gas station food trail. And I will tell you gas station food in Louisiana is good. And it's good. It is. It is. Just don't. It is top tier. I will put our gas station food up to most of five star restaurants and other states. And you know, I've got to give a shout out to the French market Express, right? Yes. Yes. Listen, even if you're on that highway that goes through your area, you got to pull over. The gas, it's like they have the buckies in the, in the Tennessee area and Kentucky and everything. You go to Louisiana, you go through them, you know, what is it, highway? What is the highway? It's 40 some. So we have it's on the, it's at the 49 highway six. There it is. I thought it was 49. Yep. And you better pull over there because this is like the buckies of Louisiana. And there's only one that I know of. And the gas station seems to get bigger every time I go there. I don't know if it's just me or like, I caught a good time, but everybody goes there. And the store itself, it's like, there's a hotel circle around it, got holiday and best Western. So like comfort in, I think it is to go in. Yep. So we've arrived late at night in, in a knack-a-dish, right? Gone to our hotel and you go into this, you know, French market Express, listen, you can get wine. Hello. We're happy. And you can get any fried food you've never even heard about behind the, I mean, everything. You can get a burger, I think, even if you wanted. They have things that you didn't know you needed to know about. There's all kinds of deep fried cheesy things. There's, you know what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cakes. That's what they're famous for, right? But I'm going, you're just like, you're the, like, you should be a rest area. Like people, you know, there's the hotel. You've got the gas. You've got the food. You've got the wine and the beer. And toys. And you can even sit inside and eat. I mean, I'm just saying, I, you know, we traveled the country full time. There is no other place like the French market Express. There's none. There. Uh-uh. This is it. Sorry. Paige, have you been? I just, I've got to ask. I mean, I know you have to have had, right? Well, yeah, I think I was there about three days ago. And actually it's, it's, it's quite close to where our family property is. So I spent a lot of time at the, the French market Express. See, you know, I'm not just looking at it. It's new. While I waited for my takeout, yeah, it is quite the spot. And what I love about is that you are just as likely to see local residents in there as you are people who are traveling down I-49 or who are visiting that could just perish. So it's a, it's a great mixture of people in there. Love it. I did too. And I think for the hotel, folks staying at the hotels and it's like, oh, if you've had a long day driving, you never know because you're, you know, it, you're kind of at the crossroads of the country too. And if you're driving, you know, east, west, north, south, that road is important. And it's like, oh, we're going to check into this hotel and maybe you're getting there a late time, but oh, wow, I can actually have a full belly and wine. I'm saying it's just important. I want both. But when people, that could be their first meat pie. You can get a meat pie right there. And it is fantastic. Go-to-lazy-ons as well. Um, is amazing. Um, you know, the food and that could issue is outstanding mercy, but who, um, what was that big stuff potato you ate, Nicole? I'm just putting you on the spot. I don't, I don't even know what was you actually, but I'm just like, you ate, you did. You know, the big shrimpy thing on top of it. That's it. It is. It's their Cajun potato. It's a, it's a baked potato, stuffed with, um, etude fey and topped with fried shrimp. Delicious. It's amazing. And, and like the chef from Mariners was just at the seafood contest, right? There was like a seafood contest for the state as well. Yes. And he did very well. Um, you know, competing against people in South Louisiana who cook seafood day in and day out fresh out of the water. Uh, you know, that's a hard, that's a hard hill to climb, but he was third in the state with his seafood dish. So we're very proud to say, um, that even this far up, uh, in Louisiana, you can still get great seafood. Well, Mariners is also in a very cool, uh, location as far as I'm concerned. I mean, yeah. You're not going to get a better sunset than at the Mariner, the lake. And then they have like that island for weddings and stuff, you know, we're getting to that season where people are starting to think of engagements, weddings. It's starting to happen. You had a hot summer, a lot of romance happening. And then you start going, okay, are we serious? And then, you know, the holidays come around. It's like, all right, you've met the parents a couple times. Now I'm going to have to do the proposition, you know, it's going to happen. So I'm just saying Mariners may be the place for all of it. You could get engaged. You could, you could do anything there. Um, it's beautiful. And, and your chances of getting a yes in a beautiful location is, is far higher. I'm just saying, and, and for honeymoon, do you guys get honeymoon there? Because you have all the bed and breakfast, like you've got to get a lot of honeymoon. Yep. We've had, we've, we've had some, we have romantic getaway itineraries on our website. We have places for honeymooners to visit. Yeah. So we have, we see quite a bit of honeymooners in the summer. I will say this though, if you're getting married, um, and your partner is not into steel magnolias, you might, you may want to rethink, um, steel magnolias was filmed in Nakadish as part of the film trail. Um, not just a film trail for Nakadish, but there's a steel magnolias film trail. You can go all over the place and follow it and go to all these spots where they filmed. But honestly, if you're, if your partner, you know, doesn't watch steel magnolias with you before you get married. What do you think, Nicole? Just saying. I'm going to be a filmmaker for a, for a Nakadish girl. Yeah. That's a, yeah. I mean, if you're out of state, out of state, I'm going, you know, it's, it's a, it's yeah, you know, you got to watch it. You got to watch it. That's part of the, that's part of the getting the yes. All right. So let's get back to it. Follow y'all. Uh, the end of the month, August 30th and 31st, you have an epic event, Caine River Zydeco festival. Who doesn't want to do that? Yeah. Yep. It's the 25th annual, um, the music starts Friday, Friday night. It is a fundraiser for the Magnolia State Peace Officers Association. So they do a great number of events throughout the year. This is their biggest. They will in turn, um, use those benefits for the, the Toys for Tots program here, um, which is an, you know, invaluable asset during the holiday season. Uh, so they really do a great job of getting music to come in Saturday night. Their headliner is, um, little Nathan and the Zydeco big timers. So everybody's excited about them coming to town, uh, and it's really a fun weekend. It's still a little warm, um, but no fear. They have beverage, plenty of beverage vendors on the riverbank. So you don't have to leave the riverbank to have a good time that weekend. I like it. I like it. Now, uh, Paige, you mentioned Kesachi national forest, right? Yeah. And when you go hiking in the woods, don't you always wonder what may be lurking? I'm just saying, you might find some pigs, some deer. I found the wild pigs or the hogs as you call them. And they were so cute. There was little babies. Oh, yeah, so I'm the, I know all boards are abundant and Kasachi. But of course, if, uh, I don't know if you remember the story that came out earlier this summer, there were some young men who were on their senior trip camping in Kasachi and they, they claimed to have seen the glowing eyes of a big foot. So this is the point. Oh, you took my lead. She knows, she knows where we're going. You know, normally I always start talking about Carolyn Dorman, who helped, you know, create and save the Kasachi national forest, but she saw the eyes. Ooh. Now, do you think they really saw them or were they having some abitabear? What do you think? Well, it's hard to say, you know, um, it was, uh, I think just one of those, you know, memorable trips that they'll probably talk about the rest of their lives. And I think it really doesn't matter what they saw. The fact is they think they saw something, but that story went all over the world. And, uh, you know, that the plans were already long in place for our first annual, um, which is, you know, Nicole's favorite phrase is a first annual, but that Bigfoot festival will be here Saturday, September 7th at our event center here in Nackadish. And, uh, perhaps the Bigfoot that they saw out there in Kasachi will bring his glowing eyes into Nackadish and make an appearance. We'll see. So what is happening with this is everybody dressing up as Bigfoot's like, what, you know, I think Joe Rogan needs to go, because he went out all over the world trying to find Bigfoot and then said it, you know, whatever. And maybe I, you know, I'm just saying, like this Bigfoot thing. It's like the Koopa Chabra, you know, I think this is fascinating because why not believe it's out there? I don't, I, to me, why not, right? Why not have this other entity we may not know about and who says it's not there? Nicole, are you going to go in a suit and run a race? What's going to happen? Like, what's going on? Well, they're not, yeah, they're not having a 5K for this one, not this year. Anyway, uh, but you have to wear big shoes if you're going to do it. Right. The fuzzy suit, no, yeah. Um, but they are going to have a lot of, um, outdoor, uh, equipment, vendors, uh, on display. I'm looking forward to that. You probably know that I'm a big hunter, uh, so, you know, just see what they have, um, for outdoorsmen at their event, um, aside from the Bigfoot hunting. I hope to have, I hope to never come across Bigfoot in the woods. So there's that, uh, but, and then later on that even is another event that I'm really looking forward to. It's the first home game for Northwestern State football, um, huge football fan. So excited about that. So you can come and enjoy the Bigfoot festival, uh, that runs from 10 to six and being in, in Terpen stadium for six o'clock kickoff. Northwestern plays Prairie View. A lot of people are familiar with Prairie View because they have such an outstanding band. Um, so equivalent of a Gramling or a Southern band here in Louisiana, they're going to come over, uh, and they'll be performing at the Northwestern game. So, you know, you can hunt Bigfoot during the day and watch football at night. So it's going to make for a fun weekend. Wow. And when you look at it too, you've got the necklace, uh, parish fair, uh, September 21st through 28th and the 20th 21st is the necklace parish rodeo. So there's a lot going on there. And that's, you know, really cool community events to be part of when you travel. I always encourage folks to get out there and to the events that you, you know, you don't have to do the big stories, you know, stars and stripes thing. You know, not stars and stripes, but like the big glittery things, you know, sometimes just go to what is local. And that's actually how your Christmas festival started. It was something local and cool. And it grew and grew and grew. And now people come all from all over the country and even the world. I know when we were there, we heard people from, you know, different countries. They come to see it and it's about community pride and community. Unity, does that make sense? Yeah. This year is our 98th annual Christmas festival. Uh, last year, just before the season started, we were tagged as number eight Christmas destination in the world. Uh, so we hope that they bring some more international travelers in to experience Christmas and that could issue because it's nothing like you've ever seen, we're expanding our drone shows this year. So instead of having it, we had two last year, we're expanding that to three this year's, we're super excited about them back. And we hope that even more people, uh, and some of our international travelers are here for the drone show weekends. We were so lucky to be part of that. We, Nancy and I got to see that and I swear, um, I swear the fireworks people after it got a little riled up and like, boom, boom. There was a little competition going on, but the drone thing literally gave you tears in the, you, it was touching. I cannot explain it until you just go do it. It is moving the way the music and the drone thing happens. I mean, I was talking about another, on another podcast with, uh, we had a, um, drone photographer on videographer and I just said to him, I'm like, dude, you should see what they did. Like, I'm like, I was in tears and it was embarrassing. Man, I was in tears, you can't do that to me. I'm like, hardcore. I don't cry. What are you talking about taking me to a Christmas festival and making me have tears and he's like, ha, ha, you know, but it, but it's true. I mean, Nicole, you were there and it is emotionally moving. It is, it's beautiful. And I'll tell you the company that does it. We've had some, we've had some good luck attracting if you watch America's got talent, uh, sky elements was on America's got talent. They're the ones that do the drone shows for us. Uh, we also had chapel heart in town a few months ago. And we know that that's where they got their start from. So must be something about America's got talent and, and knackered issue events. Uh, so we love having, we love having those folks in town. I love it. I love it. So in closing, uh, we talked about the El Camino real day, Los Tejas national historic trail. Uh, this trail goes from Mexico all the way up through San Antonio up to Nakadish, Louisiana, which is the ending point in the fort as part of that. And so you want to touch on that with what is happening for El Camino real day because this is really great because I think it's something that's incorporating the whole trail, right? So this is October 11th. Um, so tell everybody about this. Cause this seems like a, a new event, right? Well, so it's actually October the 19th. So it would be the next. That's okay. El Camino day. So they're going to have events at Los Adis, uh, as well as the Fort St. John Baptiste, the events at Fort St. John Baptiste are catered, um, are targeting, uh, children, and they are going to show the ways that the children lived, um, back when the, uh, El Camino ran through where the area that is now known as the fort. There's also going to be a pow wow. Um, at the Addi Caddo Indian, uh, reservation, which is out in Robeline. So not far from Los Adis, uh, but they will have events all along the trail. So having parishes participating, they will have events at Fort Jessup as well. So it's just a day to get out and enjoy all of the events along the El Camino trail. That's awesome. That's awesome. I want people to. So everyone, again, nackadish.com is a website, N-A-T-C-H-I-T-O-C-H-E-S.com. Always fun. Uh, everyone, we are here with our go to Nackadish show every third Tuesday page. It's been a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And thank you, Nicole, as always, keeping us up to date with what is going on in Nackadish, the oldest settlement or kind of city, kind of small town in Louisiana. So check it out. Go there and visit have as much fun as Nancy and I have. I swear, once you go there, it's one of those places you will keep going back. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you for having us. Thank you for joining us on our big blend radio. Go to Nackadish show. Keep up with us at big blend radio.com and plan your adventure in Nackadish. Go to Nackadish.com. That is N-A-T-C-H-I-T-O-C-H-E-S.com, Nackadish.com. [BLANK_AUDIO]
