Creole Nature Trail Interpretive Kiosks Unveiled
LAKE CHARLES, LA – On Wednesday, October 24, 2012, the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road unveiled two interpretive kiosks in Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes.
At 9:30 am the western gateway kiosk, introducing the incredible diversity of the Creole Nature Trail to visitors, was unveiled at the Sulphur location of Stine. In full community support, the Stine family graciously allowed the Creole Nature Trail to place this kiosk in front of their Sulphur store location which is directly on the trail.
At 2 pm a second kiosk was unveiled at Brown’s Food Center in Hackberry highlighting the seafood industry of the area. Highly involved in the community and a stop utilized by visitors and locals alike, the location for the Brown’s kiosk was generously provided by owners Jimmy and Janie Brown. Jimmy Brown also serves on the Creole Nature Trail District Board of Commissioners.
The Creole Nature Trail interpretive kiosks were designed to both guide and inform travelers by providing interesting facts and tidbits about the area in which they are located as well as about the trail in general.
In total, six Creole Nature Trail interpretive kiosks will be installed in October in areas where visitors can safely pull off to view them and take pictures. In addition to Stine and Brown’s, owners Mike and Paula Chesson of Chesson’s Grocery (just north of Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge) also kindly allowed a Creole Nature Trail kiosk to be placed at their business. Other kiosk locations are on the byways pull-off just south of the Wetland Walkway on Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, on the west side of the Cameron Ferry landing on property owned by the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development and at the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The Creole Nature Trail Interpretive Kiosk project was completed with funding support from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways competitive grants program administered by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The local 20 percent match was generously provided by the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The ceremonies were held by the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road and partners, the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Louisiana Office Tourism and its Louisiana Scenic Byways Program, and the Cameron Parish Police Jury. Special guests from Stine Lumber, Brown’s Food Center and Century Group, Inc. Speakers included Kyle Edmiston, Assistant Secretary of the Louisiana Office of Tourism; Monte Hurley, Chairman of the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road District Board of Commissioners; Sulphur Mayor Chris Duncan; Anthony “Dino” Hicks, Cameron Parish Police Juror for District 2; and Shelley Johnson, Executive Director for the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The Creole Nature Trail All-American Road, one of only 42 scenic byways with the All-American Road designation and the only one in the Gulf South, was created in 1979 to stimulate economic development and tourism in the parishes traversed by the trail and to preserve the natural, cultural, scenic, recreational, historical and archaeological qualities of the trail, its people and ecology.
Photo 1: from left to right, Kyle Edmiston, Assistant Secretary for the Louisiana Office of Tourism; Shelley Johnson, Executive Director of the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau; Paul Guillory, Creole Nature Trail All-American Road District Board of Commissioners; Mayor Chris Duncan of Sulphur; Gumbeaux Gator; David Stine, Stine Home & Yard; Nic Zaver, Hotels of Lake Charles and board member of Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau; Dr. George Hardy Vincent, Century Group, Inc.; and Monte Hurley, Chairman of the Creole Nature Trail District Board of Commissioners.
Photo 2: from left to right, Monte Hurley, Chairman of the Creole Nature Trail District Board of Commissioners; Kyle Edmiston, Assistant Secretary for the Louisiana Office of Tourism; Anthony “Dino” Hicks of the Cameron Parish Police Jury; Jimmy Brown, Brown’s Food Center and member of the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road District Board of Commissioners; Shelley Johnson, Executive Director of the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau and Secretary/Treasurer of the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road District Board of Commissioners; and Matt Vincent, Century Group, Inc.