ABITA SPRINGS • BARKER’S CORNER • BUSH • COVINGTON • FOLSOM • LACOMBE MADISONVILLE • MANDEVILLE • PEARL RIVER • SLIDELL
Farmer The St.Tammany
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S T TA M M A N Y FA R M E R.N E T
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W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 11, 2026
50¢N
152ND YEAR, NO. 22
Louisiana group flees to bunkers when counterstrikes begin
A pot of gold at every rainbow’s end
BY BOB WARREN Staff writer
The Rev. Michael Sprague is no stranger to the Holy Land. But a recent trip to visit some of Christianity’s most cherished sites included a dose of fear as he and the group of 44 people he escorted to Israel found themselves heading for bunkers and bomb shelters as sirens blared and missiles and drones flew overhead. Finally home in Mandeville on March 4, Sprague was able to relax and talk about a Holy Land pilgrimage cut short when Iran launched a counterattack against sites across the Gulf region in response to the joint U.S.-Israeli attack PROVIDED PHOTO that has taken out Michael Sprague in Israel targets across in a photo he posted to his Iran. Sprague, a for- Facebook account. mer pastor of Trinity Church in Covington who has been Louisiana’s state chaplain with the Capitol Commission for 16 years, said he has led pilgrimages to the Holy Land for years, typically 12- or 13-day trips that visit sites such as the Sea of Galilee, Bethany and the Old City of Jerusalem. The group he led this time around, which had
PHOTO BY MATTHEW DOBBINS
A head of cabbage is a notable catch at the Olde Towne Slidell Merchants Association St. Patrick’s Day Parade. But an entire sack of them? Well, it’ll be Irish stew for everyone in this young woman’s house, for sure. The parade is known for the wealth of produce it tosses to the crowd, with an estimated 420,000 pounds thrown this year alone.
Everyone’s Irish in Slidell for St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Rain threatened throughout the
More than 1,200 people took part in
morning of March 8, but the 51st
the annual parade, part of more than
edition of the Olde Towne Slidell
60 units that registered for the party
Merchants Association St. Patrick’s
that snakes its way through
Day Parade went off without a hitch.
ä See GROUP, page 2A
Skate park work near Mandeville nearly done
ä See GOLD, page 2A
Covington Celtic Club will rain green and a bit of pink BY LISA VON EBERSTEIN Contributing writer
Families in shades of green — and one vibrant splash of pink — will brighten the streets of downtown Covington on March 14 as the Covington Celtic Club hosts its eighth annual St. Patrick’s Parade. The nonprofit social club, made up of about 200 members, stages what co-founder Cody Ludwig calls a “family-friendly marching parade” through downtown Covington each year. With bagpipes, kilts and neighborhood groups filling the route, Ludwig describes it simply: “It’s just a good little community parade.” Ludwig said the steady growth has been good not only for the club but also for local restaurants and shops as paradegoers gather to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. “Every year we grow a little bit,” she said. ”All of the businesses in the community flourish because of it.” Among the many marching groups, one in particular has become a crowd favorite: the Greater New Orleans chapter of Ainsley’s Angels, its signature bright pink standing out against the parade’s sea of green. “It just always makes my heart happy when we see them,” Ludwig said of the group that inevitably makes
BY KIM CHATELAIN Contributing writer
A $2.5 million project to renovate and expand the skate park at Pelican Park into one of the premier action sports facilities in the region is rolling toward completion. The new “Pelican’s Nest” will provide skateboard and roller sports enthusiasts roughly 30,000 square-feet of rideable terrain, nearly triple the size of the park’s original skating complex. It will be the second largest skate park in the state, slightly smaller than the one at Perkins Road Community Park in Baton Rouge, and park officials will soon announce the grand opening at Pelican. Pelican Park Executive Director Suzanne Fisher said the refurbished, all-wheels skate park represents a significant milestone for the 500-acre park just east of Mandeville.
FILE PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
Ainsley’s Angels on one of their previous rolls with the Covington Celtic Club’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
ä See CELTIC, page 2A
ä See SKATE, page 3A
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