A mere two months ago St. John the Baptist Parish was in the midst of planning its annual Andouille Festival — to be held this weekend at Highway 51 Park in front of the St. John Community Center.  Then, of course, everything changed, and the festival was cancelled in favor of focusing funds, time and energy on the process of recovery in the wake of Hurricane Isaac.

So instead of a fairway and rides, today the park will be the site of a tree giveaway, a combined effort of St. John Parish and Hike for KaTREEna, which got its start in 2006 as an effort to replace some of the trees lost to Hurricane Katrina. Today’s event has a similar mission, and aside from 1,200 trees, including crepe myrtles, cypresses, oaks, live oaks, swamp red maples and green ash trees, there will also be a seminar on proper tree planting and care provided by Bayou Tree Service and Entergy.

While planting trees and returning some life to the LaPlace landscape is certainly a priority, it is not exactly a replacement for the food and fun offered by the annual Andouille Festival, and a little fun is just what many in the local community need right now.

So, inside today’s paper you will find L’Observateur’s semi-annual tourism and entertainment guide “c’est la vie.” Following the storm, L’Observateur wrestled with whether it would be appropriate to issue such a guide at this time, but in the end it was decided that local residents might appreciate a little down time — and local businesses would definitely appreciate the exposure.

Inside you will find suggestions for inexpensive ways to spend an afternoon or an evening as well as listings for all the attractions the have been a part of the River Parishes landscape for years if not decades or centuries.

So put down that paintbrush for a few hours and get out into the local community to rediscover the reasons you have chosen to call this place home in the first place.