A 300-foot smoked sausage po-boy. A Sunday fun day at a Lakeview bar to support people reeling from wrongs of global proportions. Near instantaneous offers of help after Tuesday’s horrific tornado touched down.
These are examples of events over the next few days directly tapping the talents and generosity of people in the local hospitality business. Their sector has been hit harder than most by the turmoil of fighting the pandemic these past two years.
And yet, one sign that they’re getting back in their groove is how restaurants and bars and others are stepping up for local causes.
That 300-foot po-boy will be built at Parkway Bakery on Bayou St. John on Tuesday night, with the help of a lot of sponsoring partners. It’s a ticketed event, with proceeds benefiting Hogs for the Cause, the cancer support charity.
Parlay’s Bar in Lakeview will become a fundraising support center on Sunday, starting at noon, for Ukrainian families displaced by the Russian invasion, an event inspired by the bar’s own DJ. He’s from Ukraine and was able to get his parents out of their battered hometown. The all day fundraiser will collect money to support this and other local families in similar straits.
And, the morning after that tornado tore through parts of the New Orleans community, small restaurants, breweries and even pop-ups began piecing together ways to help funnel support to people hard hit, through donations, fundraisers and advocacy for the relief agencies on the ground. Look for more of these to materialize as relief and rebuilding efforts progress.
Not long ago restaurants and bars were left wondering how they would make it through the pandemic and if they could reopen. Now that they’re back, of course events like this flow through them.
