Atelier de la Nature, a twenty-five-acre nature reserve and eco-educational campus, invites all children and families to the 2023 Halloween Art & Nature Festival, a one-day free event to celebrate Halloween, Louisiana's special natural surroundings, the Gulf of Mexico and planet Earth, through art, music, food and science.

This year’s festival theme is “The Deep” (deep sea life, deep roots both cultural and botanical, deep time, deep traditions, and more). Festival goers will have the opportunity to meet special guests including:

- Award-winning Special Effects Artist, Chuck Varga, Neptune the official King of the Coney Island Day Mermaid Parade coming from New York City

- Walter Sandifier III, Spy Boy of the Beautiful Creole Apache Mardi Gras Indian Tribe from New Orleans.

- Award-winning Playwright Lisa D’Amour from New Orleans.

Registration required for morning and afternoon sessions. The event is free but space is limited - Register at https://bit.ly/HalloweenFestival23

This year’s activities so far include:
- Meet mermaids, buccaneers, and King Neptune
- A life-sized whale skeleton sculpture
- Mardi Gras Indian water Inspired performance
- Meet mythical aquatic characters from the Ocean Filibuster Performance
- Deep roots prairie grass sculptural installation
- Giant Glow in the Gulf of Mexico lantern-shark and deep-water anglerfish disco ball sculptures
- There Was an Old Mermaid That Swallowed a Shark Game
- Fossilized nano-plankton exhibition
- Magnificent Megalodon Interactive sculpture
- Creatures from the Deep Special Make Up effects demo
- Monumental Jellyfish sculptures and nautical maize
- Meet marine biologists and other Gulf of Mexico Scientists
- Geological core samples exhibition and outreach program
- S.T.E.A.M. activities with Mermaidens
- Deep Wonder augmented reality program
- Deep Explorations Activity Book making workshop and give-away
- Deeply parasitic larval mussel exhibition and activity
- Interactive deep water coral projected installation
- Preserved deep-sea specimens’ exhibition and drawing workshop
- Spine-tingling Storytelling about Jean Lafitte and the pirates of Louisiana
- DIY Aquanaut Costume workshop and submarine sculptures using recycled/up-cycled materials
- Geothermal Energy outreach demo
- Life Aquatic and other deeply inspired music
- Live snakes and other reptiles
- Live spiders and other creepy crawlers with arthropod inspired robots
- Traditional Cajun and Creole cooking using locally sourced ingredients
- Sustainable seafood cooking demo
- Trick or Treating
- Abyss Zone Pumpkin Decorating
+ More!

Additional Event Information:

The 2023 Master of Ceremonies will be Renella Rose Champagne of KRVS’s “Lost in Love” program and King Neptune from the New York City Coney Island Day Parade.

Performances by Spy Boy Walter Sandifier III, DJ Spicy Tuna and others curated by Laura Huval of Sweet Cecilia and Al Berard Memorial Music Fund.

This year’s food will be prepared by Chef Colt Patin (a Certified Executive Chef and Certified Chef Instructor), his students from the Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge, and the Cub Scouts Pack 301 (Breaux Bridge, LA), who will serve Cajun and Creole dishes prepared with local and seasonal ingredients.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. The event is FREE but SPACE IS LIMITED - Register at https://bit.ly/HalloweenFestival23

Date:
Saturday, October 28, 2023

Time:
10am - 4pm

Location:
Atelier de la Nature,
1050 Andrew Gautreaux Road,
Arnaudville, LA 70512

Cost:
Free

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