The Outdoor Industry Association says Louisiana consumers spend $15.1 billion annually on outdoor recreation, supporting 146,000 direct jobs in the state and generating $4.6 billion in wages. The spending creates $1.1 billion in taxes for local and state coffers.
The association says the state offers spectacular outdoor recreation opportunities at destinations like Kisatchie National Forest, Chicot State Park and many others, bringing in dollars from residents and out-of-state visitors alike. OIA calls outdoor recreation an economic powerhouse in the United States, each year generating $646 billion in consumer spending and 6.1 million direct jobs.
View each state’s spending here and go here for more info.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.