Lake Charles, LA
Since 1957, pirates have taken over the city of Lake Charles, LA, for one of the largest festivals in the state. Originally called Contraband Days, the festival grew from a one day event into a two week festival that included speed boat races, concerts from major artists in multiple genres, a carnival, and, obviously, lots of pirates!
As the years went on, the event underwent multiple changes. A family night was added that featured performances by national, regional, and local Christian artists. The boat races were removed. Bed races (yes, bed races) were added, taken away, and then brought back. Admission and parking fees came and went and fluctuated with each year. Concerts began to focus more and more on the regional and local levels as well. Ultimately, festival goers began to feel that they weren’t getting much bang for their buck and the festival experienced a massive downturn in attendance.
One of the biggest and most divisive changes occurred on International Talk Like A Pirate Day in 2017, when the Buccaneers of Lake Charles announced that the festival would no longer be called Contraband Days, but instead be referred to as the Louisiana Pirate Festival. Both support and backlash came from the local community over this change, but the festival stuck to their guns on the issue. Many believed that politics was the driving force behind the change, while others stated that it was simply a change to widen the appeal of the event.
Whatever the real reason may be, I decided to attend this event on both of its weekends. I assisted with the Tour Lafitte bike race and watched the Amanda Shaw concert on the first weekend, and took my family out for a day at the carnival on the second weekend. I did notice that the crowd was quite a bit smaller this year than it has been in the past (most evident at the lightly attended concerts), and I also noticed that the event itself had downgraded in size. I really felt bad for the bands that performed at the event. There just wasn’t a big crowd to give them any type of support.
The highlights for me were the Pirate’s Parrots show and the Amanda Shaw concert. The carnival was enjoyed by my whole family. The weather was extremely cooperative this year (there’s been a bad run of storms on the weekends for the last few years prior). The Buccaneers didn’t seem to be out in as big of a force this year as they have in the past, but I did see a few of them hanging around their area at the festival.
Based on my own personal account, this festival looks to be floundering around on its last peg leg. I’d really love to see it win back its audience, but with so many ill feelings in the community, I don’t know if the Louisiana Pirate Festival will ever be the same.
Gettin’ Steamy!
This weekend in Gulfport, MS, the 2018 Southern Steampunk Expo will take place at The Warehouse (3420 Giles Rd, Gulfport, MS). I won’t be able to attend, but those lucky enough to check this event out will get the opportunity to see authentic set pieces from films like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. There will also be live entertainment from Professor Pinkerton and the New Orleans Steam Cog Orchestra. Cosplayers will also be in attendance including two of my personal favorites, Redtop Cosplay and Hashtag Cosplay.
Tickets at the door are only fifteen dollars for Saturday and ten dollars for Sunday for adults, and kids aged five to thirteen only cost ten bucks for each day. Weekend passes for adults are only $25 and for kids aged five to thirteen, $15. Kids under five get in free! The event is family friendly, but there will be an adults only show that will cost an additional five bucks.
This sounds like a wonderful event. If you can head out that way this weekend, get there! For more information, follow the event link here.
Texas-Sized Title Bout!
On the other side of Louisiana, Hurricane Pro Wrestling will be crowning their first ever Women’s Champion in Beaumont, TX on June 16th. I attended a Hurricane Pro event back in March and wanted to go back again last month but was unable to due to other responsibilities. When they announced their next event, The Crowning (more info at their website and at the event link here), I made sure that I cleared the weekend of June 16th (which happens to be the same week as my birthday) and picked up VIP passes for myself and my kids. This event looks to be insane with former Impact Women’s Champion Chelsea Green, the mighty Sheeva, newcomer Phoebe, Hurricane Pro favorite Miranda Alize, and Reality of Wrestling’s Hyan squaring off to become the first Hurricane Pro Women’s Champion.
Of course, the ladies aren’t the only ones getting in on the action in June. HPW has also announced two other matches that will take place at The Crowning. Brysin Scott and Estrella Galactica have some bad blood with the Pump Patrol and Ayden Cristiano and Jordan Jensen will also be facing off on an evening that’s only going to get better as more matches are announced!
If you’re located in southwest Louisiana or southeast Texas and love professional wrestling, I highly recommend that you attend this HPW event. The wrestlers are very interactive with the crowd and they are extremely talented as well. For The Crowning, VIP passes can be purchased for $25 and include a pre-show meet and greet with all of the ladies in the main event, a photo session, autographs, and a commemorative shirt!
Remembering Margot Kidder
It is with a heavy heart that I have to say that yesterday we lost another iconic star. Margot Kidder, best known to nerds like myself as Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve Superman films, passed away at her home in Montana. No other information has been made available at this time.
Few people could draw attention away from the wonderful performance of Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, but Kidder’s spunky Lois Lane stole plenty of scenes and commanded the audience’s attention. Kidder also starred in other genre films like The Amityville Horror, Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, and Sisters, but she’ll always be our Lois.
In Conclusion
That’s all I have for now, folks. If you have an event coming up in the near future and would like to have it featured in my blog, please message me through this blog or contact me on Facebook here. Please know that I received no compensation for promoting neither of the events above. I simply want to spread the word about things that I believe I would love and that my readers would love as well. If you attend the Southern Steampunk event, let me know how it goes. If you’re going to be at the Hurricane Pro event, The Crowning, let me know ahead of time so that I can meet you and get your opinion on the show!
As always, thanks for reading my posts. It makes my nerdy heart feel good when I see that Views counter tick up. If you have anything you’d like me to cover, just let me know.
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