COVINGTON • FOLSOM • LACOMBE • MADISONVILLE • MANDEVILLE • SLIDELL
ST. TAMMANY
N O L A.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, A p r i l 1, 2026
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Associated Wholesale Grocers will make $110M upgrade to facility in Pearl River
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
A paradegoer uses a rainbow umbrella to shade from the hot summer sun during the 2025 Pride Northshore Parade in Mandeville.
Northshore Pride gets permit to parade BY JIM DERRY
Contributing writer After a little over a half-hour worth of discussion and questions with very little debate, the Mandeville City Council approved the third annual Pride Northshore parade at the council’s March 26 meeting. The vote was 4-1, with only council chairman Jason Zuckerman in dissent. There also were no public comments, except for a few questions answered by Leyla Hekmatdoost, who is the executive director of Queer Northshore, the group that started the parade in 2024. The only thing left to do is to finalize plans for this year’s event, which will run along the lakefront and is scheduled for May 30 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., with a rain date of June 6. “I am very relieved. We applied in January, and it doesn’t usually take this long,” Hekmatdoost said. “We spoke to the police, we spoke to the fire department; we have taken a lot more steps than ever. We understand there are security issues, and we’re committed to paying the fees because we want to keep the parade in Mandeville.” Those fees come to $12,420, which includes just over $9,000 that will go to officers of the Mandeville Police Department — each of whom will receive a check from a representative of Queer Northshore on the day of the event. Part of the holdup was having to go through a new and unfamiliar process for special events and parades the city council approved in January. The ordinance also had an effect on the Old Mandeville Business Association, which is about to hold its annual Girod Street Stroll. That event is scheduled for April 25, and was unanimously approved at the March 26 meeting. “We put this ordinance in so that everyone is treated the same,” council member at large Scott Discon said. “The applications were put in, and they checked all the boxes. (Queer Northshore) agreed to pay the costs, and costs for all the events increased this year. We have to provide a safe environment for the citizens of Mandeville, and that is our utmost concern.” Hekmatdoost said in January they not only were concerned about whether the application would be approved but of the potential costs would skyrocket to
ä See PARADE, page 3A
BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer
Kaitlyn Kerner admires a top she bought at the Abita Springs Whole Town Garage Sale.
Rummaging through Abita
A national food distributor that supplies products to thousands of grocery stores around the country will invest $110 million in its distribution facility in St. Tammany Parish that employs over 300 people. Associated Wholesale Grocers’ planned upgrades to its Pearl River facility include new automated systems and severe weather protections, state and parish economic development officials said in a news release on March 24. The new upgrades will not affect the number of positions at the facility, which will stay at 334 direct employees and 38 contractors, said Kristin Durand, a spokesperson for St. Tammany Economic Development Corporation. To secure the project, the state of Louisiana offered the company an incentives package that included a $500,000 performance-based grant, Durand said in a news release. Officials said the upgrades will improve safety
ä See GROCERS, page 3A
PHOTOS BY MATT DOBBINS
Milton and Anne Hernandez haul the chairs they bought at the Abita Springs Whole Town Garage Sale on March 28. ä More photos. PAGE 4A
Annual Whole Town Garage Sale brings bargain hunters to town in droves
“Bargains galore!” were promised at the Abita Springs Whole Town Garage Sale, and curious shoppers no doubt found what they came for when the annual event was held March 28. A cluster of vendor booths is centered around Abita Springs Town Hall each year, but a digital map was online for visitors to find the most farflung rummage sales hosted by homeowners throughout Abita Springs. Visitors from across St.
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Tammany Parish and beyond found tables filled with vintage items, home goods, toys, furniture and clothing — all among the most popular offerings at the sale, held on the final Saturday in March each year. Early birds, some arriving before 7 a.m., discovered some of the best bargains, but a steady stream of shoppers filtered through the town until mid-afternoon, looking for the “just-right” items to bring home.
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PHOTO BY LISA VON EBERSTEIN
Zac Maras has painted hundreds of colorful murals, most of them in New Orleans, but he’s adding more of them now in his community of Abita Springs.
Mural brings spirit of da bayou to Abita Springs BY LISA VON EBERSTEIN Contributing writer
A plain wall situated across from Abita Springs Middle School is now a burst of color and movement — a stylized depiction of southeast Louisiana’s natural landscape brought to life by local artist Zac Maras. The mural was painted last month across the side of a building owned by Christy Becnel of Abita Springs, a talented art teacher at Northshore High School in Slidell. It features a white heron stretching its wings mid-flight, a catfish surging, and bright blue butterflies drifting across a bold orange backdrop of native cypress trees draped in Spanish moss.
ä See MURAL, page 2A
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