DENHAM SPRINGS • LIVINGSTON • WALKER • WATSON • AMITE • HAMMOND
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W e d n e s d ay, A p r i l 15, 2026
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Artist of Year shares love of stage with students Darlene Denstorff AROUND LIVINGSTON
Boil & Berries Crawfish Cook-off coming to Springfield Boil & Berries Crawfish Cookoff fundraiser is coming to Springfield from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 18 at Fayard Field. Bracelets for the event are $20 for adults and $10 for children. Kids 3 and under are free. You’ll get to sample from all the crawfish pots and strawberry desserts. The day includes crawfish cook-off, strawberry dessert bake-off, strawberry patch contest, Hungarian treats and cultural performances, strawberryeating contest for kids, music, vendors and inflatables. Fayard Field is at 32127 Church St., Springfield. All proceeds benefit the Árpádhon Hungarian Settlement Cultural Association to help preserve our Hungarian heritage. If interested in participating in crawfish cook-off or dessert bake-off, call (225) 278-3770 or (985) 974-6883. If interested in being a vendor, call (225) 9558239.
BY RICHARD MEEK Contributing writer
If the world is indeed a stage, Melani Glascock’s career has played a leading role. Glascock, an arts educator and longtime theater advocate, has brought her passion to hundreds of students she teaches as an arts educator in the Livingston Parish Public School System. For her commitment to that passion from her heart to the classroom, Glascock was recently selected as the 2025 Arts Council of Livingston Parish Artist of the Year. She was presented the award during a reception for the opening of the center’s Student Art Show, which runs through April. “I am extremely proud of the award and excited,” Glascock, vice president of the art council board, said. “Sometimes, performing arts can get overlooked but the fact that (the council) reached out (with the award) is a very important element for me. “We have done a lot to promote visual performing arts.” Glascock travels to 11 Livingston Parish schools weekly to meet with students, who have
only to teach them how to act but also how to be better artisans. “Just building who they are and strengthen who they are,” Glascock said, “and learning how to express themselves, express their emotions in different ways.” Through the years she has witnessed several students overcome their initial timidity and eventually begin to thrive, overcoming their fear of being on stage. Glascock recalled one student who briefly dropped out of the class because of those fears but eventually returned and was even on the front line in the recent production of Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang. “Rather than him getting out of the program, he came back, stayed with it and that gave him PHOTO BY RICHARD MEEK the confidence to get involved to meet the other students,” she said. “I think we will see him Gayle Cothell, president of the Arts Council of Livingston Parish, presents the Artist of the Year thrive. We see that a lot of times.” Learning also extends well beyond the front Award to Malani Glascock during the Livingston of the curtain as students are exposed to art Parish Students Art show and Artist of the Year design, stage management and construction 2025 presentation at the council on March 21. and design of sets, all of which can lead to the development of life skills such as organization, been evaluated for the gifted and talented proä See ARTIST, page 2G gram in visual arts, explaining her goal is not
CAR TALK
Spring Festival set for Denham Springs Don’t miss the Denham Springs Spring Festival, set for April 25 in the city’s downtown district. The day includes hundreds of vendors, games, children’s rides, food booths, antique stores open for shopping, art exhibits, tours the Old City Hall exhibits and music at the Old Train Station. Browse the main street area, rest at the sitting areas and sample the fare in the restaurants and visit the comfort stations.
Class of ’76 reunion planned If you’re an alum of the Denham Springs Class of 1976 — my class — your help is needed to organize the upcoming reunion. The event is planned for June 13 at Forrest Grove in Denham Springs. To volunteer or share your information with the organizers, email daleh76DS@gmail.com.
The three-person cast practices for the upcoming production of Driving Miss Daily, produced by the Spotlight Performance Theater Players in Denham Springs at Luke 10:27 Church. Left to right are Lee Rider (Boolie), Tara Nixon (Daisy) and Reggie Francis (Hoke).
Livingston schools kindergarten registration
BY RICHARD MEEK
Livingston Parish Public Schools is accepting online registrations for incoming kindergarten students for the 2026-27 school year. A child must be 5 years old on or before Sept. 30 to register for kindergarten.
Set in 1943, “Driving Miss Daisy” is the story of an elderly Jewish woman forging an unlikely friendship with her personal driver, who is Black, during a 25-year period. In the movie, starring Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy and Dan Aykroyd, the complex plot addresses racism
PHOTO BY RICHARD MEEK
Denham Springs theater troupe stages ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ Contributing writer
and antisemitism and shows what can happen when those veils are lifted and people begin looking into the eyes and hearts of their fellow community members. In what could be considered a groundbreaking production in Livingston Parish, the Spotlight Performance Theater Players in Denham Springs are bringing the award-winning play to the stage at Luke 10:27 Church for a six-day produc-
tion spread across two weekends beginning April 16. “We were trying to find a play that would help us feel like there are a lot of opportunities in our community to do something (theatrically),” said Spotlight President Lee Rider, who is also playing Boolie, Miss Daisy’s son. “It was interesting because having
ä See DRIVING, page 2G
ä See AROUND, page 2G
Maurepas softball ready for deep run in playoffs A lot of offense has led to an optimistic outlook for the Maurepas softball team, which will be looking to make a deep playoff run after the regular season ends this week. Two weeks ago, the Wolves clinched the District 7-C title by doing something they have done well all season, namely scoring runs. Their offensive prowess is one of the main reasons they appear ready to make a run at a berth in the state championship tournament, which begins May 1 in Sulphur. “I’m excited. I think we’re going to make a good run through the playoffs,” Maurepas coach Gabrielle Felps said last week. “I know for the girls, their goal is to play PHOTO BY CHARLES SALZER on the last day of the season and I think we’re making good progress Maurepas pitcher Saydie Sterling during a recent game.
Charles Salzer SPORTS ROUNDUP
toward that.” The Wolves got to this point by winning all four games they played in their three-team district, and they scored enough runs to probably win twice that many. The clincher came on April 1 with a 13-2, five-inning win at False River Academy. That victory completed a four-game run through league play in which Maurepas scored 74 runs. As things stand now, Maurepas
(14-13) is up to No. 2 in the Class C power ratings. With the softball playoff pairings ready to come out this week. Maurepas has positioned itself to have a first-round bye along with a chance to play at home for the following two rounds. Two home wins would earn Maurepas a trip to the semifinals and a berth in the state championship tournament for the first time since 2017, when the Wolves lost to Plainview in the championship game. For now, they are focused on bettering the achievements of last year’s team, which made it to the quarterfinals before a 16-9 loss to Claiborne Christian. The Wolves are a young team with a starting lineup that
ä See SALZER, page 3G