JEAN LAFITTE, La. — The big digital sign outside the town hall building in Jean Lafitte reads ‘Welcome to Jean Lafitte.’
"I want people to come down and see the progress that these people have made down here,” Mayor Tim Kerner, Jr said.
A simple welcome is something Mayor Kerner doesn’t take for granted. That’s why he said this year’s Seafood Festival, set for November, will be more than just a festival about seafood.
“The people of Jean Lafitte, Barataria, and Crown Point have something to celebrate,” Mayor Kerner said. “This comeback and the resiliency they displayed is world class and it’s something to be proud of.”
Hurricane Ida slammed this Jefferson Parish community. Much of it was buried in mud. Schools and playgrounds are still closed, and with it, a sense of community that’s been missing for more than a year.
The Seafood Festival was supped to happen in June but had to be postponed because of recovery challenges. The mayor hopes it’ll be a needed break from realities that still exist.
“Most importantly, it’s a moral boost for this community that’s been hit so hard, that had such a horrible year of fighting back,” Mayor Kerner said.
A fight one well-known attraction won’t bounce back from.
“When that hurricane came, we were devastated," Fire Chief Linton Duet said.
Duet says the yearly Fire Department Haunted House, which attracts people from across Southeast Louisiana, is a causality of Ida.
“As much as we’d like to be able to do it again, it was a good little fundraiser for us, at this point in time it’s unfeasible for us to be able to do it again,” Duet said.
Duet says everything used to set it up, the props, the machinery, and the lighting, was destroyed. Some of the firemen who ran it are now gone.
“They’ve moved on and got out of this area,” Duet said.
Instead of putting the final touches on all the scary fun, Chief Duet is overseeing final repairs to several fire stations.
“Most of the work we had to do ourselves because it’s hard to find a contractor,” Duet said. “It’s not that easy.”
Some things may be lost to Ida, but the sense of community isn’t. For Mayor Kerner, that’s worth celebrating.
“Festivals like this bring attention to the fact that we aren’t going anywhere, that this place is worth saving, it’s worth living in and it’s worth fighting for,” said Mayor Kerner.
It all starts with a simple word of welcome.