Category: Book Club News

My plans to visit New Orleans for Halloween got destroyed this week. Not only is the Delta variant still destroying plans, but hurricane Ida that hit New Orleans this year is still destroying plans. I made a hotel reservation to visit New Orleans for their giant events for Halloween 2021. Halloween is usually a huge boost to New Orleans tourism due to many parades next to above ground cemeteries in a town with a reputation as a “haunted” looking vintage city. Jazz Festivals, rare concerts, book signings, and fiction conventions all plan October dates in New Orleans. Plus I went to school there for years so I enjoy saying hi to school friends when people are out and about for events. People fly in from all over the world to see a New Orleans Halloween. Unfortunately then the hotel I booked at refunded my money as I had NOT asked to cancel the reservation!

It turns out “first responders” as they call themselves are still living in all the hotels MONTHS after the storm, and have restored very little as town residents are still living in tents months later. They are paying a fraction of what visitors normally pay for the Jazz Festival and Halloween hotels, and destroying the October tourist trade. (The hotel mentioned to me in an angry phone message as they were forced to cancel my reservation without asking.) In addition New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival canceled the October event a few weeks ago (as cited in this article here https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/travel/new-orleans-ida-tourism.html), citing concerns about an increase in coronavirus cases so it seems the government is trying to destroy New Orleans under the disguise of “emergency help” to the town. Oh well I just console myself by knowing it can’t be closed forever, and there will be other years. Being stuck in Virginia is a super-crapy substitute for a real New Orleans visit for Halloween, but I will try to make the best of it.