Norfolk, VA
This is probably one of the stranger trips that Brandi and I have been on together… in just about every sense (and I mean strange in the best possible way). To compress it into a sentence… having volunteered to man the crafts guild tent, we hopped on a coach bus with 30+ Louisiana artists and rode 20+ hours through the night to the small waterside town of Norfolk, VA to remount the “Bayou Boogaloo” music, food, and heritage festival traditionally held in New Orleans, LA. A set up like that creates lots of opportunities for story telling!
Norfolk is a relatively quiet city, at least the parts we explored. We brought our bikes on the trip as a means of transportation and put them to good use. I don’t know much about Norfolk historically, but it was very beautiful - the architecture, the nature, the public spaces. It’s a nice blend of the North and South, as you may expect due to its location. It was comfortable like the South but had a certain elegance to it that I attribute to its older New England styled neighborhoods.
As for the real reason we were there, the Bayou Boogaloo is a festival held annually in New Orleans, LA, celebrating the culture and heritage of the area while providing its 35,000 attendees a good reason to party. The city of Norfolk thought it would be neat to pull a Patrick Star and “move it somewhere else!”, so that’s quite literally what they did. They gathered up the musicians, the artists, the chefs, and the vendors that embody the festival, threw them on a bus, and let them loose on their parade grounds. Pretty cool way to make a “just add water” festival if you ask me. Or “just add crawfish” as it may be. Brandi and I were responsible for manning the Louisiana Crafts Guild tent, selling the works and wares of those members who couldn’t attend themselves. Not a bad gig!
Best of all during the trip though we’re the people we spent those 20 long bus hours with, 40 if you count the way home - artists from across the state who were all exceptional people in every sense. We made friends and connections that we’ll hold on to forever during those sleepless nights, memories if nothing else.
