A New Orleans Favorite – The Creole Tomato Festival

 

Fertile, alluvial (made from sand and/or earth left by rivers) soil south of New Orleans in St. Bernard and/or Plaquemines Parishes is what truly defines a Creole tomato in the Greater New Orleans area. The plants are grown and harvested all over the Southern Louisiana region, but true Creole tomatoes get their unique color, shape and flavor from the type of soil in which they are planted.

“It’s a more intense, stronger taste, and the flavor has more acid; to me, it kind of has an earthy taste that you don’t get from any other tomato,” says Ben Becnel Jr. is a sixth-generation farmer at the family-run Ben & Ben Becnel’s Farmstand in Belle Chasse.

Because of the semi-tropical, coastal, southern climes in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, Creole tomatoes can also grow and be picked from mid-April, all the way to the next January, weather permitting. This differentiates this unique tomato from others grown in the state as well.

These tomatoes were featured in the 37th Annual Creole Tomato Festival, held June 10th and 11th at the New Orleans French Market. Originally founded in 1986, the weekend’s festival included live music, artists,surrounding restaurants offering Creole tomato special dishes, kids’ activities and cooking demos.

Live music was held on 3 stages throughout the weekend, and fifteen vendors sold locally sourced tomatoes in culinary delights, such as fried green tomatoes, shrimp remoulade and seafood gazpacho. The French Market in New Orleans is the oldest open-air market in the United States, and the weekend’s events reflected that unique history and heritage.

 

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Mortgage Rate Decreases to Lowest Levels Since March

 

Between home prices and home inventory, the housing market has been a struggle for those home buyers interested in buying a new home for sale or a previously-built resale. Home inventories has not rebounded from being “wiped out” during the pandemic when interest rates dropped to the lowest levels ever seen. The amount of homes being built by new home builders have not recovered enough to supply the demand that is in the market. Also, homeowners who were thinking about selling their homes are in a holding pattern because the interest rates have been so high that it has been prohibitive

to sell a home and purchase a new one with a loan which would have more than double the interest rate of their current home loan.

Good news came to home buyers though when mortgage interest rates dropped to their lowest level in 5 weeks. The average interest rate dropped to 6.35%, down from 6.73% in March, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. Interest rates which are closer to 6% versus 7% are always good news.

“This week’s decrease continues a recent sideways trend in mortgage rates, which is a welcome departure from the record increases of last year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

The focus of interest rates is the debt-to-income ratio which lenders calculate to see how much a home buyer can afford to buy. The increase in interest rates has shown a huge discrepancy in monthly payments because of the difference of hundreds of dollars in monthly loan payment cost. The same house at the same price could be priced out of a home buyer’s affordability range due to it changing the debt-to-income ratio.

So, the decrease in mortgage rates is good news for now. Nationally, inflation is also down, so it will be a game of wait-and-see to see what the Federal Reserve with interest rates now that inflation is cooling.

For now, home buyers have a couple of choices to deflect the high interest rates. The first one is to buy now and refinance later. There are buyers who think that these high rates will eventually come down, so they will go ahead and buy a home at a higher rate and then refinance it later when the rates drop. Another option to purchase a new home is called a mortgage rate buydown. Buyers who qualify can get a lender program, where they pay for a couple to few years at a lower interest rate with an agreement the rate will go up. When the rate goes up, the home buyer has the option to refinance to stay at a lower rate.

So, overall, the decrease in interest rates, no matter how slight, can be a sign of better days to come in the real estate market.

 

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Beauty, Resilience and Environmentally-Friendly Changes at City Park

 

At 170 years old, City Park in the heart of New Orleans includes 1,300 acres of green space, water features, walking trails, woodlands (including the world’s largest conglomeration of live oaks), and historic and newly-built structures, which make it a popular attraction to both residents and visitors alike. These structures and spaces include museums, a sculpture garden, golf courses, tennis courts, 2 stadiums, an amusement park, Storyland, and event venues.

In 2022, the City Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization, was put in charge of the day-to-day management of City Park. This new organization is spearheading a new, 100-year master plan

renovation, which is estimated to take 18 months at a cost of $200 million. The City Park Conservancy chose a landscape architectural firm – Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, Inc. (MVVA), out of New York to create and ultimately do the project.

Over the next 18 months, MVVA will hold public forums to get feedback from the community as the plan comes together. The new master plan renovation will address acreage above I-610, which includes two golf courses and the Wisner Tract. Adding more public restrooms and upgrading the existing ones, enhancing the walking trails for ease of use, and increasing public safety are also goals of the renovation.

Working a natural plan into the existing land is also one of the results that city leaders would like to see to make City Park an asset to the overall flood control plan of the city of New Orleans.

“Parks are meant to be resilient. They are meant to be a green sponge,” said City Park CEO, Cara Lambright. “We have never had a look at what City Park could do for us in that regard. We need to talk to our community about how we can create something beautiful that is also resilient.”

This is a process which is being addressed by MVVA to involve an arborist to create a tree plan, which includes creating an inventory and assessing the usage of the undeveloped parts of the park.

This part, called the Wisner Tract, is enjoyed by residents and visitors alike with a tree swing and 90 acres dedicated as a “Passive Recreation” area.

Previous renovations and additions in the last 20 years included the new Louisiana Children’s Museum, a newly-enclosed courtyard at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and improvement of the maintenace of the green spaces and woodlands.

Before Hurricane Katrina, City Park underwent a massive, master plan renovation focusing on projects, such as the miniature golf course, tennis courts and Great Lawn.

 

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Home Builders Associations’ Southshore Parade of Homes

 

The Southshore of New Orleans will once again be open to the public for 2 weekends in a row for the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans’ Parade of Homes. This year, from June 17th to June 25th, you can visit new homes for sale – newly completed new construction homes – Saturday and Sunday from 1pm – 5pm.

The Parade of Homes features 22 homes to tour. The homes are located on more than just the New Orleans, Metairie, and West Bank metro areas – there are homes that are newly built in Destrehan as well. 14 builders participated in this year’s Parade. This offers new home buyers the unique opportunity

to tour so many homes and view new builder features and upgraded amenities and technology in these new homes for sale.

“We have a great variety of homes this year at all price points, from $249,000 up to $2 million,” said Patrice Kononchek, chair of this year’s event. “It also covers a wide geographic area, from Lake Vista to Destrehan to Kenner and more. There are a lot of options for people to take in.”

After the Parade of Homes, there will be a virtual Parade of Homes online at www.hbagno.org/paradeofhomes, which starts on June 26th. This gives home buyers wanting to view the homes for sale in the comfort of their home, on mobile and desktop devices.

Many of the new homes being built focus on potential home buyers who will be living and working from home. The included amenities in these new homes for sale feature outdoor kitchens, home offices, workout rooms, and home theaters.

The Parks of Plaquemines has 3 custom homes in the Parade of Homes. Visit our community to speak to our exclusive, premiere builders in the Greater New Orleans area!

 

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