A score of raffle items will be available, including jewelry by Kendra Scott, gift cards to presenting sponsors Buff City Soap and Sun Tan City, a local restaurant gift card package, a Cuban Liquor package and the wildly popular “mystery mixed case of wine.

When spring arrives each year in the Ark-La-Tex, nature’s blossoms come out in all their profusion. So, too, do the young men and women who make up the Cotillion Club Court. The Cotillion Club aims to bring the metropolitan area’s population together to stimulate interest in the greater Shreveport area while boosting the local economy.

In the back corner of the family business, C&C Mercantile and Lighting, businessman, artist and just all-around cool guy Derek Simmons makes custom hats for the trendy and the traditional. Come along and visit his workshop with us and explore his exquisite craftsmanship.

Neil Johnson has photographed everything from some of the biggest celebrities to the smallest aspects of nature. This spring, he’s opening the doors on a new exhibit of his work, “Opposites Abstract: The Lens of Neil Johnson,” at Big Sun Studios in downtown Shreveport.

Sometimes, it helps to realize you’re not alone. One local non-profit agency is trying to get the word out that they have the resources and staffing available to help people in the Ark-La- Tex who are dealing with Alzheimer’s and related dementia issues.

The restaurant might be more familiar to many locals by some of its earlier names: Freeman & Harris Café, or Pete Harris Café, or Brother's Seafood. No matter what name you love, the families who have made this their lives' work have made them destinations for hungry palates for over 100 years.

Janie Mallet, the senior publicist for Cirque du Soleil OVO, described the production as a very family-friendly show with the trademark Cirque costumes, high-energy choreography, acrobatics, stunning video effects and music full of Brazilian influence.

STRIKEWERX, in the meantime, was busy prototyping a refueling simulator for the workhorse B-52. Air refueling is critical to flight operations and a mandatory skill for pilots. But training is expensive to maintain and time-consuming to conduct. The new simulator will save an estimated $4 million per year and reduce training time by three months.