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Chef Kevin Belton is ready to hit the trail, the culinary trail that is, in a new 26-part cooking series from WYES-TV. In his fourth public television venture, Chef Belton will explore the rich and multi-faceted foodways of Louisiana. KEVIN BELTON’S COOKIN’ LOUISIANA premieres Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. on WYES-TV, wyes.org/live and on the WYES and PBS apps. The tasty tour of the Pelican State’s best flavors and dishes will also air on a majority of public television stations nationwide. Viewers outside of the WYES broadcast area should contact their local station for airdates and times. This series is distributed by American Public Television.

The new series made a foray into our area, which will be featured on several shows. The Toledo Bend Lake Country episode will air on September 4, an episode about Natchitoches and Cane River follows on September 11, while the Sportsman’s Paradise episode is September 25.

Many Mayor Ken Freeman, in one of his last official acts, issued a proclamation on Friday that honors and celebrates the 150th Anniversary of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

Father Francis, the priest at St. John’s; Thomas Andries, chairperson of the planning committee for the yearlong celebration; and JJ Blake, whose family has been active members of St. John’s for five generations, were at City Hall to meet with Mayor Freeman and accept the proclamation.

The history of St. John the Baptist Church of Many began in 1870 when the first resident priest, Rev. J.A. Aubree, arrived. By 1871, the diligent work of Father Aubree and his parishioners resulted in the completion of a frame church. 

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The Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University is sponsoring the 2021 NSU Folklife Concert Series, a series of six Saturday concerts in July and August. The concerts will highlight different folk musical traditions with a 45-minute music set followed by interviews with the musicians and an audience Q&A. Each performance will take place at 2 p.m. at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum at 800 Front Street in downtown Natchitoches. The concert series is free and open to the general public.

The Northwestern State University Foundation Board planned a special surprise for Dr. Chris Maggio, who is retiring from NSU after more than 33 years of service, the last four as president. At a June 18 board meeting, which was also Maggio’s birthday, the group announced the creation of the Dr. Chris and Jennifer Maggio Endowed Scholarship to honor the legacy of the Maggio family and their support for NSU. The scholarship is fully endowed at the $100,000 level.

“I’m blown away. I had no idea the scholarship was being talked about,” Maggio said in thanking the presidential leadership team, vice presidents and volunteers who serve on the Alumni Association and NSU Foundation Boards. “I love Northwestern and I’ve been able to spend 33 years of my professional life and four years as an undergraduate at Northwestern doing something that I love. I’m going to continue to support and be there for this university.”

The voting delegates of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation elected Jim Harper, a rice, crawfish, sugarcane and soybean farmer in Rapides Parish, to a second term as president of the state’s largest general farm organization.

“It’s truly an honor to serve the Louisiana Farm Bureau members of this state,” said Harper. “We’re now going into our 100th year as an organization and we’re taking steps to ensure every one of us has the food, fiber and fuel we need for the next 100 years.”

Harper lives in Cheneyville, La., with his wife Debbie. They have two children and five grandchildren. He farms rice, crawfish, sugarcane and soybeans in a part nership with his brother, Ross Harper.

The voting delegates also reelected first vice-president Marty Wooldridge of Caddo Parish, second vice-president Scott Wiggers of Franklin Parish, third vice-president Richard Fontenot of Evangeline Parish and secretary-treasurer Michael Melancon of St. Martin Parish.

To honor the creative efforts teachers have made to maneuver their ever-shifting learning environments and keep students engaged this past year, SONIC® Drive-In donated $1.5 million to teacher requests on national education nonprofit site DonorsChoose on Teacher Appreciation Day, May 4. As part of SONIC’s ongoing Limeades for Learning initiative, the $1.5 million donation helped fund more than 7,000 teacher requests across the country in need of critical resources.

“Teachers took this past year head-on, engineering a variety of innovative methods to keep their students learning in both in-person and virtual classrooms,” said Lori Abou Habib, chief marketing officer for SONIC. “We express our gratitude to teachers like these, who create inspirational learning environments for students during a challenging time. With SONIC’s $1.5 million donation match, we were able to help teachers access much-need supplies to successfully complete this school year.”

After much prayer, deliberation, discussion with my husband and family, I have decided to retire December 31, 2021. My husband is retiring, again, June 30, and he wants me to retire with him. The Lord has blessed me with a long and successful career. There have been some very difficult and challenging times, but most of the time, it has been my joy to be an educator in every capacity in which I have served.

I thank the Caddo Parish School Board for the 28 years I served there. I learned so much that served me well as a superintendent. Caddo gave me opportunities to grow and develop professionally, and afforded me the opportunity to learn from the very best mentors, Albert Hardison, Ollie Tyler and so many others. I made so many friends in Caddo and am forever grateful for my time there.

Movies in Many will observe Juneteenth 2021 with a special showing of the movie Harriet. The free movie will begin at the Many Community Center at 7 p.m. on June 19.

In honor of Juneteenth, there will also be a guest speaker and also some awesome door prizes. Several door prizes relate directly to Harriet Tubman’s history.

Juneteenth commemorates the date— June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the end of the Civil War—when hundreds of thousands of enslaved men and women in Texas finally learned they had been freed. Juneteenth is an important milestone in American culture because it celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.

State Representative Rodney Schamerhorn recently visited with Paisley Langton, the five-year-old daughter of Blake Langton.

June 30 is Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC) Day, and Paisley was born with the condition. Schamerhorn presented her with a special proclamation from the governor.

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St. John the Baptist Catholic Church will kick off the celebration of its 150th anniversary on Sunday, June 27th with a Mass of Thanksgiving at 11:00 AM followed by an anniversary luncheon.

Honored guests for the occasion include Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States and Bishop Francis Malone of the Diocese of Shreveport.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was established by Father Francois LeVezouet of Brittany, France as a permanent mission in 1871. Father LeVezouet oversaw the construction of a frame church building and church cemetery, the acquisition of land for the residence of a priest, and the installation of the church’s first resident pastor, Father J. A. Aubree.