Nouvelles Des Villes
JackPot, Once Again
Lake Charles
Players have been flocking to the new $700 million, 25-story Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino Lake Charles, built by billionaire Tillman Fertitta. It opened with great fanfare, complete with showgirls and state and local officials. It’s Fertitta’s fifth casino since he took over Golden Nugget casino and hotel properties in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada nine years ago. Situated on a 290-acre property that includes an 18-hole championship golf course debuting in April, the hotel features 740 luxury rooms and suites, seven Landry’s, Inc., restaurants and five bars and lounge spaces, plus live entertainment. A boardwalk and walkway will create a path for visitors to easily travel back and forth between Golden Nugget and the sprawling, elegant L’Auberge du Lac Resort Casino next door.
Career Fair and Indians
lafayette
The Career Fare, held Feb. 24 at the Cajundome Convention Center, offers employers and graduates an excellent opportunity to network; it attracted 1,100 students last year. Visit career.louisiana.edu to register or call (337) 482-1444. To see Lafayette’s Mardi Gras Indians on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 17) go to Pontiac Point at 1 pm or to the Mardi Gras Show at Clark Field at 5 p.m. (mardigrasshow.com) performers as The Butler (scenes were shot in Houma, Terrebonne Parish). California and Canada tied for 2nd place, with 15 films each.
Rodrigue Exhibit
New Iberia
The “George Rodrigue Comes Home: Under Iberia’s Live Oaks with George Rodrigue and his Blue Dog” exhibit at New Iberia’s Bayou Teche Museum runs through March 14 and is unlike previous exhibits in that some of the art has never been seen before. The works are from the private collections of local residents, and those of former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum in Lafayette and the George Rodrigue Foundation.
New Hunting App
for your phone
The buzz among many Acadiana hunters during the recent split season was about a free new hunting app created by a group of tech-savvy Louisiana sportsmen. The new app, HuntSoft.com, allows hunters to track data on their property (from trail-cam images to in-field sightings), easily create a property maps, access weather and interact with other hunters. The mobile app is available for free for one property and up to 50 game log entries. Packages that cover multiple properties and additional log entries are available for a monthly or yearly subscription fee.
Save Pont Breaux!
Breaux Bridge
The iconic bridge that gave the town its name is in need of a major facelift that will cost up to $400,000. Efforts are underway to raise a portion (up to $75,000) for a federal matching grant. So far, $30,000 has been raised by the Save the Bridge committee. In 1799, Breaux Bridge received its name when a footbridge was built at the spot over Bayou Teche. Visit facebook.com/breauxbridgesavethebridgeproject.
