Four years ago, Beth Woods came up with an idea of asking three families on her block to open up their homes at Christmastime and invite others on the block to participate. She named it Christmas Crawl – because they start at one house, spend an hour and then move on to the next house. They do an appetizer at the first stop, soup at the second stop and dessert at the last stop. She also included a directory of everyone on her immediate block of Thora, Thornhill and Delmar, which is about 45 homes. Host houses this year were Sam and Teresa Crawford - appetizers. Son Russell was a stand-in for dad Sam, who was at the hunting camp; John and Carol Lorence – soup; and Lori and Clay Bryan – dessert.

– Mary Ann Van Osdell

North Louisiana Economic Partnership (NLEP) hosted their 2017 annual meeting, titled Top Event: A Celebration of Economic Development in North Louisiana, at Sam’s Town Casino in Downtown Shreveport on Jan. 25. Several guests spoke on how political and economic forces will impact the regional economy in 2017. The keynote speaker was Ron Insana, senior analyst and commentator on CNBC, who spoke about how the new policies of the Trump administration will impact Main Street and Wall Street.

– Mark Crawford

On Jan. 21, the Krewe of Atlas hosted their ninth annual bal, Cirque de Atlas Macabre, at the Convention Center in downtown Shreveport. The theme was reminiscent of a traveling circus where something had gone really wrong, which led to some very impressive costumes. This year’s captain is Brett Burdgess, and co-captain is John Pumilio; Duchess of Harmony - Jennifer King; Duchess of Charm - Michelle Parkerson; Duchess of Flight - Heather Hays; Duke of Fun - Ron St. Aubyn; Queen IX - Tracy Mendels; and King IX - Ray Pliler.

– Mark Crawford