Lt. Gov. hosts final Tourism Town Hall meeting, Oct. 28 in Monroe

Louisiana Restaurant Association members in the Northwest Chapter area of the state are invited to the third in a series of Tourism Town Hall Meetings hosted by Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Chennault Aviation Museum in Monroe.

Restaurateurs will have the opportunity to provide input about the area’s tourism industry and its growth potential, opportunities for economic development and infrastructure improvement. Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas and vision for the area’s tourism industry.

Information gathered at the meeting will be used to compile a report to guide Louisiana’s tourism industry in continuing its recent record-breaking impact on the state and to identify how the Louisiana Office of Tourism can provide a partnership for success.

Lt. Gov. Dardenne previously hosted Tourism Town Hall meetings in Shreveport and Lafayette.  

Lt. Gov. Tourism Town Hall series continues with Oct. 15 meeting in Lafayette

Louisiana Restaurant Association members in the Acadiana Chapter area of the state are invited to the second in a series of Tourism Town Hall Meetings hosted by Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014 from 9-11 a.m. at Vermilionville Historic Village in Lafayette, 300 Fisher Road.

Restaurateurs will have the opportunity to provide input about the area’s tourism industry and its growth potential, opportunities for economic development and infrastructure improvement. Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas and vision for the area’s tourism industry.

Information gathered at the meeting will be used to compile a report to guide Louisiana’s tourism industry in continuing its recent record-breaking impact on the state and to identify how the Louisiana Office of Tourism can provide a partnership for success.

Lt. Gov. Dardenne will host the third in the series on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the Chennault Aviation Museum in Monroe from 1:30-3:30 p.m. 

Lt. Governor to address LRA members of the Bayou Chapter Tuesday

You may have seen the great news last week—Louisiana set a tourism record with 27.3 million visitors in 2013. Thanks in part to the success of the Super Bowl and other events held last year, travelers spent a total of $10.8 billion enjoying our riches of indigenous cuisine, accommodations and attractions.

National Tourism Week was last week and as Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne toured the state, he shared the message far and wide that Louisiana is the place to come and have the time of your life. Tourism creates jobs for Louisiana residents and also has a positive impact on the state’s economy.

The LRA Bayou Chapter will host its May membership meeting on Tuesday, May 13 at The Foundry in Thibodaux, where Lt. Governor Dardenne will be the featured speaker.

As the Lt. Governor, Dardenne heads the Dept. of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which includes State Parks, the State Museum System, the State Library, the Arts, the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and Volunteer Louisiana.

To attend, contact Courtney Waguespack at cwaguespack@lra.org. 

Karen Profita named as Executive Director of Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board

A Baton Rouge radio show host, and former President and CEO of the Baton Rouge Capital Area United Way, Karen Profita, has joined the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board as the new executive director.

Ending a three-month search to replace former Seafood Board executive director Ewell Smith, Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne has announced the signing of Profita as the new executive director representing the states 12,000 fishermen, as well as seafood processors of crab, crawfish, finfish, shrimp and oysters.

In an email to seafood board members he said, “I am pleased to announce that Karen Profita has accepted the position as Executive Director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing. I am happy to have Karen on board and hope you will join me in welcoming her to this new assignment.”

Profita currently is the principal of her own Baton Rouge firm, KJP Impressions.

Profita currently is the principal of her own Baton Rouge firm, KJP Impressions. The company assists in developing business skills, presentation confidence and the professional appearance necessary for success. She also hosts a weekly local radio program offering a broad range of lifestyle information and tips.

Her firm was responsible creating the Woman’s Hospital Annual Campaign radiothon, which raised more than $42,000.

Previously she was President and CEO of the Baton Rouge Capital United Way. During her leadership she assisted in turning around the image after the organization faced a crisis of donor confidence. She has also served as a Sr. Vice President for the Childrens Miracle Network.

During the search assistant director Kristin McLaren has headed the Seafood Board’s day-to-day operations.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with all of you,” said Profita who was hired by the Lt. Governor in an email to her new board. “In the coming weeks I would like to spend some time with each of you to understand your goals and objectives for Louisiana Seafood. In the meantime please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.”

Profita, is a graduate of Louisiana State University, and holds a Masters in Health Service Administration from the University of St. Francis in Chicago.  She will start immediately in her new position.

Happy Birthday Bayou State!

Upon logging on this morning to Facebook, there were countless posts wishing Louisiana  a happy 200^th Birthday, as today marks the date it was admitted to the Union as our 18^th state. The Louisiana Restaurant Association also wished our state a resounding Happy Birthday.

To officially celebrate the occasion, the Office of the Lt. Governor held the Louisiana Family Homecoming Celebration Festival on the State Capitol grounds in Baton Rouge, April 28. Hundreds gathered to celebrate Louisiana’s food, music and history in honor of Louisiana’s Bicentennial.  

Naturally, food was central to the celebration as our cuisine marks one of the most notable traditions our state offers. Fare included cracklins, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and even deep-fried king cake. While this celebration was underway, so was the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans and the Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette. It was all about the food and music this past weekend in Louisiana.

For more than a year, many projects and events have been planned for Louisiana residents to celebrate all that our beloved state has to offer and importantly, what we have to share with the world. The LRA was a member of the Commission’s Foodways Committee, which created a series of banners that will travel the state spreading the historic value of our cuisine.

Also, Southern Food and Beverage Museum Founder and President Liz Williams will be penning a series of articles for a la carte magazine, the association’s official publication for Louisiana’s foodservice professional, the first—Coffee, Louisiana’s Gateway, appears here. The second installment in our spring issue will share the history of Louisiana’s agricultural offerings, followed by Louisiana seafood in the summer. The final installment, just in time for the holidays, will cover the state’s many confections.

A tree-planting ceremony was held this morning at A.Z. Young park at the corner of Third and Lafayette Streets in Baton Rouge and this afternoon, the Bicentennial Commission, headed by General Russell Honore, will unveil a new U.S. Postal Stamp featuring a photograph depicting Flat Lake cypress trees adorned with Spanish Moss in the Atchafalaya Basin.

What will you do to commemorate Louisiana’s statehood?