Saturday, May 30 – Monday, June 1, 2009
New Orleans · Larose · Morgan City · Houma · Lake Charles
To focus the spotlight on the implications of Louisiana’s wetland loss to the nation and to heighten awareness among residents of the coast, the America’s WETLAND Foundation will sponsor Storm Warning: Last Stand for America’s WETLAND - a 24-hour citizen rally to commemorate the opening of the 2009 hurricane season. Be a part of this historic event as we alert the nation and the world to this impending tragedy.
This 4th annual Storm Warning will demonstrate what will be lost if nothing is done to restore and protect Louisiana’s coast. On Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31, 2009, residents will join together in a variety of marine vessels, pleasure craft, fishing boats, barges, work boats, and sailboats, to jointly celebrate the value of all that is America’s WETLAND and to warn the nation about the consequences of its loss.
The festivities will begin on Saturday, May 30, 2009, 5:00 p.m. at the Woldenberg Riverfront Park next to the Aquarium of the Americas with a rally style concert featuring, interactive demonstrations, festival cuisine and a water show, and performances from local bands including Irma Thomas, Hot 8 Brass Band, and Rockin Dopsie, Jr. That evening, at 8:00 p.m., a lead vessel will depart the port and journey to Larose to meet participants for a flotilla to Houma.
On Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., local boat owners and operators are invited to join the lead vessel and U.S. Coast Guard at the intersection of Bayou Lafourche and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Larose for a blessing of the fleet and a cruise westward to Houma. Simultaneously, participants in Morgan City will embark on a 2nd flotilla eastward along the Intracoastal Waterway to Houma. Once gathered in the Houma’s Downtown Marina, boats from Larose and Morgan City flotillas will meet watercraft and land-based participants in Houma for the Last Stand for America’s WETLAND festivities.
In Houma, at 2:00 p.m., the sound of boat and foghorns will signal the warning as the gathering will hold reflector panels and hurricane flags to create illuminate the scene and spot for media coverage. The Houma event will feature live music by local celebrities, contests for best-decorated boat and a boat parade finale.
On June 1, the official opening of the Atlantic hurricane season, Lake Charles will host the “Sustaining the Unique Coastal Culture of Louisiana Summit” to discuss challenges and potential solutions for addressing the issues of sustainability unique to this vanishing landscape.
National attention will be drawn to the story as Storm Warning highlights the fact that all the land south of the Waterway will disappear if nothing is done to save or restore America’s WETLAND.