A new arts and music festival celebrating Baton Rouge’s connection to the Mississippi River will debut next spring along the downtown riverfront.
The two-day event, called Ebb and Flow, will “celebrate the Capital Region’s cultural, economic and ecological connection to the Mississippi River and all things that … ebb and flow,” explains Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge President Renee Chatelain, who announced the festival at this morning’s monthly meeting of the Downtown Development District board of commissioners.
The festival, which will be held April 1-2, will be located on the levee, in Repentance Park and even on barges in the river, which will feature art installations and exhibitions. While Ebb and Flow will be similar to other springtime festivals, Chatelain says it will differ in that it will capitalize on the area’s connection to the river, its expertise in the area of design through LSU’s College of Art and Design and top-ranked Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, and its rich blues heritage.
Eventually, the hope is to grow Ebb and Flow into an international, juried design festival like the Venice Biennale and attract artists, dancers, musicians, sculptors and design professionals from around the world.
“This is a real signature event that we hope to grow and expand along the levee,” Chatelain says. “It’s a way to culturally brand our region and celebrate music, dance and our place on the river.”
Also at this morning’s DDD meeting, several new downtown businesses announced their plans to open. Among them:
• Dr. Scott Sicard will bring his family dentistry practice to Downtown Healthcare and Wellness, a walk-in clinic located at 307 Third St. Sicard, the first dentist to locate downtown, will see patients at the clinic on Fridays, says Liz Eure, one of the clinic’s owners.
• Red Stick CrossFit opened its newest location on Monday at 600 Main St. The 6,000-square-foot fitness center offers a strength and conditioning program that combines aerobic exercises, calisthenics and weight training. Red Stick CrossFit’s other two locations are on Government Street in Mid City and on Anselmo Lane.
• Cocha, a new tapas and small-plates restaurant that will combine the farm-to-table concept with Venezuelan and southern cuisine, will open in early December at 445 N. Sixth St. Owners Enrique Pineura and Saskia Spanoff say the 10-month construction project took longer than originally anticipated, but that the restaurant is ready to open in the next few weeks. Cocha will serve lunch and dinner during the week, and brunch and dinner on Saturdays and Sundays. It will be closed Tuesdays.
• The Big Squeezy juice bar will have a soft opening this weekend at 327 North Blvd. in the space formerly occupied by CC’s Coffee House and will be open for business by Monday, says owner Kim Matsko. The new downtown location is the third for The Big Squeezy, which opened near the Perkins Road Overpass in 2013 and in Alexander’s Market earlier this year.
—Stephanie Riegel
