12/08/2011
Joyeux “Noel A Mandeville” Christmas Festival
There should be a lot of would-be Rudolph's running for glory and, well, simply trying to out pace the reindeer-clad New Orleans roller derby women as one of the many new and colorful highlights this year of the two-day Noel A Mandeville Christmas street festival in Historic Old Mandeville.
The running with the reindeer, featuring our very own northshore roller derby ladies, will occur on Girod Street in Old Mandeville beginning at 830 am Sunday, Dec. 11, kicking off the second day of the street festival from 9 am to dusk.
Sponsored by your Old Mandeville Business Association, most of you probably know and have helped put on or attended or somehow participated in the event over the past several years by its original name, Christmas Past.
But this year the OMBA board decided to take what had always been a one-day event and ratchet things up considerably turning it into a spectacular two-day event. To do so, OMBA is contracting with prominent event planner Frank Stansbury and his professional staff at Le Fete, LLC.
In turn, Stansbury and his associates are creating what will be a festival of color, variety and fun unlike anything seen before on the northshore. By all indications, this 2011 two-day event may become the new standard by which northshore street festivals are measured.
Indeed, this year promises to be one of the busiest three-day early December long weekends in recent Old Mandeville history. The Friends of the Dew Drop will kick off the annual festive theme from 6:30-9 pm on Friday, Dec. 9, closing out their fall 2011 season with their annual Christmas show spotlighting prominent New Orleans jazz cabaret singer Banu Gibson and her band.
As always with the wonderful cooperation of the police department, Girod will become a pedestrian boulevard for most of the two days.
Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 10-11, will be taken over by OMBA and Noel A Mandeville with street arts and crafts vendors, restaurants and other attractions maintaining booths from near Woodrow Street at the entrance to the Mandeville Trailhead Cultural Interpretive Center south to Lakeshore Drive -- nearly 100 in all.
Sunday from 2-5 pm the Old Mandeville Historic Association will stage a "Homes for the Holidays" tour of six historic and classically decorated Old Mandeville homes as an adjunct to Noel A Mandeville.
Saturday at dusk after Noel A Mandeville shuts down for the night, the City of Mandeville will host its annual Winter on the Water Festival featuring the ceremonial lighting of the elaborately decorated live oaks on the lakefront, a performance in the public gazebo by the Kathy DeRouen Quartet and a night time parade of lighted sailboats from the Pontchartrain Yacht Club across the entire lakefront.
Meanwhile, Noel A Mandeville will feature a pet promenade (parade) down Girod Street beginning at 2pm Saturday followed by OMBA’s Inaugural Christmas Parade at 4pm. The Christmas parade will travel down Girod Street from the Mandeville Trailhead to the Lakefront. Among the attractions of the afternoon parade will be marching bands, units representing the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans Hornets, the Jr. Saintsations, local school’s dance teams and other exciting features including a visit from Papa Noel himself.
Stansbury said the food booths sprinkled all the way down the street for six blocks will offer a dream come true for foodies with some of the region's best chefs turning out their specialty items and there will be beverage booths also. So, bring a healthy appetite and enjoy the great food and drinks on the street.
Each block. from near Woodrow Street to the lakefront. will feature a balance of some of the best Louisiana restaurants with an emphasis on the OMBA member restaurants of Historic Old Mandeville. There will also be a wide range of regional artists and arts and crafts artisans displaying their unique wares just in time for early Christmas shopping.
We still have room for some craft booths and volunteers. Please contact Frank Stansbury at [email protected].
There will be a blessing of the fleet at the Yacht Club before the colorful boat parade and wrapped around the city's events clustered around the gazebo between Lafitte and Carroll streets along Lakeshore Drive.
Noel A Mandeville entertainment will include performances geared for fun holiday dancing at three stages along Girod Street featuring among others, NOLA Express and the Damn Hippies.
As dusk descends on Sunday and vendors began folding their tents, so to speak, the public is invited to join us at the Mandeville Trailhead for jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis as he performs music from his latest released CD “A New Orleans Christmas Carol” Concert on Sunday from 4:30pm -6:30pm.
All of the events sponsored by OMBA for the entire weekend are free as are the city events. The admission for the Dew Drop concert is $10 payable at the door. The OMHA historic home tour will cost $25 and tickets will be available at the public gazebo before the event. They can also be purchased at Das Schulerhaus, Maxein's, Good Earth and Vianne's in Old Mandeville.
“Homes for the Holidays” by the Old Mandeville Historic Association will be open for visiting and at some, seasonal refreshments; will be at 2626 Lakeshore Drive; 2525 Lakeshore Drive; 2001 Lakeshore Drive; 132 Coffee St.; 139 Marigny Ave.; and 400 Lafitte St.
Proceeds from ticket sales go to the OMHA restoration project of the historic Jean Baptiste Lang House that was recently moved from Lakeshore Drive to the Kierr Park on Carroll Street.
