Mary Staes
Mary Staes is Digital Content Lead for Very Local. She works with our freelancers and crafts content for our social media platforms and website. Before Very Local, she worked with CBS affiliate WWL-TV as a web producer and weekend assignment editor for about 4 years. She has also handled broadcast coverage for 160 Marine Reserve training facilities while she served as an active duty Marine. As a native New Orleanian, she takes being "very local" to heart. She loves being intertwined with the culture and figuring out how there are less than two degrees of separation between us all, whether we're natives or not.
For the first time in decades, Chocolate Santa not taking photos for 2019 Christmas
Fred Parker, known to many across New Orleans as Chocolate Santa or the 7th Ward Santa, has been posing for photos for generations.
How you can hear all the New Orleans artists nominated for the 2020 Grammys
Here’s a list of our artists nominated and a sampling of their music.
🍗 T-minus one week until Thanksgiving!
Seven days … but not in that creepy “The Ring” kind of way. It’s just a mere seven days until it’s Stretchy Pants Day, aka Thanksgiving.
Weekend Picks: The holidays are here already!
That’s right, we’ve got a week left until Thanksgiving and the holidays are here!
🍽️ We’re cooking dinner for you
Did anyone know what a heater was until this week?
Weekend Picks: LPO takes Bowie, Friendsgiving, Gumbo Fest
The LPO is taking on David Bowie, we’re hosting Friendsgiving and the chill in the air is perfect for a gumbo festival!
NOLA Freeze: What to know when it hits freezing temperatures in New Orleans
Here’s what to know about and what to prepare for during the freezing weather in New Orleans.
Preparing for takeoff: What you need to know about the new airport
Christmas is in 48 days (because who’s counting?) so it’s time to get together and be festive, ya’ll!
Weekend Picks: the height of Falcons Hate Week
The glorious end of an extended Falcons Hate Week is upon us! We get our first crack at Dirty Bird Gumbo before Thanksgiving.
👻 Local Lagniappe: Happy Halloween! 🎃
Whether you’ve been waiting since Oct. 1 for tonight or the season crept up on you, today is the to get all your ghouls together and celebrate the spooky season.