The Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights is eight cities in north Louisiana (Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, Monroe, West Monroe, Natchitoches and Alexandria, Pineville) [1] that collectively offer festivals, parades, fireworks shows, shopping and dining in each of the cities starting the day after Thanksgiving through the New Year.[ citation needed ]
One of the most iconic festivals along the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights is the Natchitoches Christmas Festival, also called the "Festival of Lights," in Natchitoches. It was started in 1927, making it one of the oldest light festivals in the US. In the largest north Louisiana city on the Trail, Shreveport offer Christmas in Roseland at the American Rose Center, Rockets Over the Red Fireworks, Christmas on Caddo Fireworks, nightly blizzards at the Louisiana Boardwalk Outlets and other events. Minden's big holiday celebration is Fasching. Alexandria/Pineville offers WinterFete and Monroe-West Monroe is known for Antique Alley shopping.[ citation needed ]
All of the cities are within a one-hour drive of each other on Interstates 20 and 49.[ citation needed ]
Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat and largest city of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes. Its neighboring city is Pineville. In 2010, the population was 47,723, an increase of 3 percent from the 2000 census.
Interstate 49 (I-49) is a north–south Interstate Highway with multiple segments. The original portion is entirely within Louisiana with an additional signed portion extending from I-220 in Shreveport to the Arkansas state line, three newer sections are in Arkansas, and one section in Missouri. Its southern terminus is in Lafayette, Louisiana, at I-10 while its northern terminus is in Kansas City, Missouri, at I-435 and I-470. Future plans include portions of the remaining roadway in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, to link Kansas City, Missouri with New Orleans.
Scouting in Louisiana has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
Natchitoches, officially the City of Natchitoches, is a small city and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 18,039. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the indigenous Natchitoches people.
Shreveport is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, of which it is the parish seat. It extends along the west bank of the Red River into neighboring Bossier Parish. The 2020 census tabulation for the city's population was 187,593, while the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area had a population of 393,406.
John Holmes Overton Sr., was an attorney and Democratic US Representative and US Senator from Louisiana. His nephew, Thomas Overton Brooks, was also a US representative, from the Shreveport-based 4th district of Louisiana.
The Jefferson Highway was an automobile highway stretching through the central United States from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. The Jefferson Highway was replaced with the new numbered US Highway system in the late 1920s. Portions of the highway are still named Jefferson Highway, for example: the portions that run through Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana; Lee's Summit, Missouri; Osseo, Minnesota; and Wadena, Minnesota.
U.S. Route 167 is a north-south United States Highway within the U.S. states of Louisiana and Arkansas. It runs for 500 miles (800 km) from Ash Flat, Arkansas at U.S. Route 62/U.S. Route 412 to Abbeville, Louisiana at Louisiana Highway 14. It goes through the cities of Little Rock, Arkansas, Alexandria, Louisiana, and Lafayette, Louisiana.
North Louisiana, also known locally as Sportsman's Paradise, is a region in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The region has two metropolitan areas: Shreveport-Bossier City and Monroe-West Monroe, two micropolitian areas: Ruston Micropolitan Area and Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area, and two combined statistical areas: Shreveport–Bossier City–Minden CSA and Monroe–Ruston Combined Statistical Area. The Shreveport area has the largest metropolitan and CSA by population in North Louisiana.
Kisatchie National Forest, the only National forest in Louisiana, United States, is located in the forested piney hills and hardwood bottoms of seven central and northern parishes. It is part of the Cenozoic uplands and has large areas of longleaf pine forests. It is one of the largest pieces of natural landscape in Louisiana, with some 604,000 acres (2,440 km2) of public land, more than half of which is vital longleaf pine and flatwoods vegetation. These support many rare plant and animal species. There are also rare habitats, such as hillside seepage bogs and calcareous prairies. The forest also contains and provides a buffer for the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness, a nationally designated wilderness area that contributes to protecting biodiversity of the coastal plain region of the United States.
Area code 318 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northern and central parts of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The area code was assigned in 1957 in an area code split of area code 504, to a numbering plan area that comprised nearly all of the state west of the Mississippi River, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico north to the border with Arkansas. In 1999, the southern half of the original 318, including Lafayette and Lake Charles, received area code 337.
Central Louisiana, also known as the Crossroads, is a region of the U.S. state of Louisiana.
Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) is a state highway in Louisiana. At 431.88 miles (695.04 km), it is the longest numbered highway of any class in Louisiana. It runs diagonally across the state, connecting the oil and gas fields near the island of Grand Isle with the northwest corner of the state, north of Shreveport.
Foster Lonnie Campbell Jr. is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party from the U.S. state of Louisiana. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1976 to 2002.
The Natchitoches Christmas Festival is held annually in Natchitoches, Louisiana on the first weekend in December.
Louisiana State Route 1 was one of the 98 original state highways that were established in 1924. It was signed for the Jefferson Highway, an auto trail that ran from New Orleans to Winnipeg. LA 1 curved through the entire state, spanning from Shreveport through Alexandria and Baton Rouge to New Orleans, ending south of Pointe a la Hache. It was renumbered for the most part as US 71 and US 171.