THE ZACHA Y
ADVOCATE& T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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T h u r s d ay, N ov e m b e r 27, 2025
12TH YEAR, NO. 7
$1.00N
Council told recruitment efforts paying off Leila Pitchford AROUND ZACHARY
Enjoy the best of the season Happy Thanksgiving! Hope your meal is tasty and the company at your table is a joy to be with. This evening starts the Christmas rush for many. Be sure to take time to rest and allow the season’s spirit rather that the crush to affect your interactions. Here are activities to get your Christmas spirit fire up.
Economic development director tells council businesses see benefits of Zachary locations
BY OLIVIA MCCLURE Contributing writer
Ashleigh McHugh, Zachary’s economic development director, gave an update on retail recruitment efforts at the City Council’s Nov. 10 meeting. The city’s contract with Retail Strategies, an Alabama-based firm, is paying dividends, she said. The third quarter of 2025 brought welcome news of retailers making plans to come to town. “We are celebrating three big wins,” McHugh said. “That would be Aldi, Planet Fitness and 7 Brew.” Retail Strategies also contacted 18 retailers on behalf of the city in the third quarter. That is a significant
number, McHugh said, and some have already provided feedback. Bringing more grocery stores to Zachary has been a hot topic for a while, and McHugh said some progress is being made. “We have, in office, contacted four grocery stores,” she said. “A couple of those conversations did go really well.” Another item on McHugh’s radar is office space. She works with Retail Strategies to recruit businesses into available offices. “If I see something is expanding or has expansion plans in Louisiana, I’ll reach out to them and have them touch base,” she said. She also has prioritized building relationships with local commercial
real estate agents. “They recruit just like we do. They attend the same conferences we do and are in front of some of the same retailers,” she said. “So it’s been really beneficial keeping up with them, finding out feedback on different things in town that maybe have sat for a while.” McHugh reported on some other areas she is focusing on, including: n Creating an incentives package to lure retailers. The city is working with a firm called ZHF to develop incentives and is in the process of selecting an attorney to assist with implementation. n Downtown improvement efforts. She said the city has revived its relationship with Downtown
Strategies, a spinoff company owned by Retail Strategies, and is expecting to hear from the firm with recommended action items soon. Zachary worked with Downtown Strategies under former Mayor David Amrhein on a controversial downtown revitalization plan — which the council ultimately rejected — that centered on a new City Hall to be built through a public-private partnership. n Events. About 18,000 people attended the Really Hot Air Balloon Festival in September, up from 13,000 last year. Also in September, the city joined forces with the Zachary Chamber of Commerce to host a business expo that featured about 40 participating businesses.
Dec. 6 Christmas parade The 2025 Zachary Christmas Parade will be themed “Christmas Movie Spectacular.” It will roll at 10 a.m. Dec. 6 from Rouses on Church Street to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Entry fee is $100, and the deadline to apply for a spot in the parade is Nov. 17. Sign up at forms.office.com/r/b8qkhsEujS.
Black pot cooking contest set Downtown Live at The Gazebo is holding its inaugural Bayou Black Pot Cook-Off on Dec. 6 during the Zachary Christmas Parade Downtown. Each team chooses what goes in their dish. Awards will be presented for first, second and third place along with a People’s Choice Award. Register at forms.office.com/r/SWigFGsZvj. Team entry is $80 by Nov. 28. Then it rises to $100. Tasting wristbands will be $5. The group is seeking volunteer musicians to play in the gazebo. RULES: 1. All dishes must be cooked in a cast-iron pot. No open fires. 2. One 10x10 canopy is allowed per team. 3. Each team must have a fire extinguisher readily available. 4. Cooking teams that chose to sell full-size plates must provide their own plates and utensils. (Sampling bowls for judging will be provided.) 5. Dishes must be completed by 11 a.m. For information or questions please email us at downtownlivezachary@gmail.com. The schedule, rain or shine, is 5:30 a.m., register and begin; 8:30 a.m., registration ends; 11 a.m., food ready to serve and judging begins; and 12:30 p.m., winner announced.
Nutcracker music at the library Books & Music celebrates the holiday season with a “Nutcracker Suite” freeze dance,
ä See AROUND, page 2G
PHOTO BY FRANCES Y. SPENCER
Lt. Col. (retired) Darrin Spears is flanked by a unit of Zachary High Junior ROTC cadets Tuesday, November 11, 2025 during the annual Veterans Day flag-raising raising program at the Regional Veterans Park on the campus of Lane Regional Memorial Center.
Veterans help America weigh the costs of freedom
BY FRANCES Y. SPENCER Contributing writer
The commodity we call freedom has never been free. Veterans Day is a yearly reminder that democracy is fragile, requiring the protection of veterans. Local defenders of freedom were honored Nov. 11, at the annual flag-raising sponsored by the Bank of Zachary. Participants included the steering committee of the Regional Veterans Park, Zachary High JROTC, band and choral groups; Cub Scout Pack 46 and Boy Scout Troop 46; the Baker-Zachary VFW; and Lane
Regional Medical Center. The program ushered in the first Zachary Veterans Day parade. Lt. Col. (ret) Lawrence Baker, keynote speaker, is the Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer and Director of Physician Recruitment at Lane and a veteran of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Baker likened the preamble of the Constitution to a roadmap for establishing and preserving democracy, with individual freedoms and unity being key features. “In my opinion, the words of the preamble exemplify the founders de-
sire to create an entity that through individual freedoms coupled with unity of effort, rule of law, respect for your fellow man, and a devout belief system would be the model of moral governance throughout our 249 year history as a nation, there are consistent examples of veterans who have demonstrated extraordinary sacrifice to protect the freedoms we hold so dear,” he said. Veterans Day is a federal holiday that is observed on Nov. 11 to honor all veterans, both living and deceased, who have served in the armed forces. The holiday origi-
nated as Armistice Day in 1919, to commemorate the end of World War I, which had taken place on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The name was officially changed to Veterans Day in 1954 to broaden the focus of the holiday to all American veterans. The veterans present were individually recognized and Baker said the generations of U.S veterans are and always will be the standard-bearers for this country. “All of us have a role to play in the greatness of America,” he said.
ä See VETERANS, page 3G
Giving thanks for a walk in the park Warren Brady ZACHARY SPORTS
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze” — William Wordsworth, “I wandered lonely as a cloud” It has been a tradition at Zachary Sports to perform a Thanksgiving review of all the things for which to give thanks as it relates to sports in the greater Zachary area. This year I thought a nice change might be to identify something that if you took a short trip and made a short walk you too
could be thankful. The inspiration came from last summer when I was overly motivated to perform what my grown children refer to as “death hikes” in the Colorado mountains. In preparation for these outdoor excursions, training routines included walking five flights of stairs at the downtown office for my other job, walking multiple laps on the flat roads of my neighborhood and wearing out a treadmill while listening to boring conference calls where people synergized their paradigm shifts. One warm fall Sunday, I took off to explore places in Zachary
ä See BRADY, page 2G Walking the Young Forest Primitive Trail.
PHOTO BY WARREN BRADY