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.

Two tons of bacon and what do you get? Hog heaven.

By Mary Staes / March 28, 2019

Bringing back the bacon for the second year in a row, the festival’s opening night is celebrating everyone’s first love.

Weekend Picks: Festival season is here!

By Mary Staes / March 28, 2019

Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, Congo Square Fest, Fried Chicken Fest, Beignet Fest, Po-Boy Fest, Creole Tomato Fest, Mac and Cheese Fest, Voodoo Fest,  Satchmo Summerfest, it’s all about to happen!

Jazz fest Cubes are here! These are our picks for both weekends

By Mary Staes / March 26, 2019

Organizers made the announcement during a press conference Tuesday morning, letting festers know when performers like Katy Perry, Big Freedia, J Balvin and The Revivalists.

Condrag-ulations graduates! New drag queens, kings, and in-betweens make their debut

By Mary Staes / March 26, 2019

The performers range from seasoned professionals trying out a new act to novices who have never performed in front of a live audience.

It’s draguation time! Some of the city’s newest drag queens are going through the gauntlet

By Mary Staes / March 25, 2019

New Orleans Drag Workshop’s Draguation is the culminating event of 10-weeks of hard work.

Geaux forth and fest: our picks for the rest of March

By Mary Staes / March 25, 2019

While it’s not blazingly hot or as crowded as it could be, make sure you get to these festivals.

Marcus Lemonis of CNBC’s ‘The Profit’ to speak at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week

By Mary Staes / March 21, 2019

NOEW has expanded to include venue across town, giving entrepreneurs a chance to stay in their own neighborhoods and join in the events.

Weekend picks: Didn’t catch enough groceries at parades last week? Oh, there’s more.

By Mary Staes / March 20, 2019

For two weeks in New Orleans, produce is pretty much free.

World-renowned Ailey Dance Theater returns to New Orleans after nine years

By Mary Staes / March 20, 2019

As part of the company’s 60th Anniversary, two completely different performances will take place March 22 and 23 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

Wednesdays at the Square: where to park, what to pack

By Mary Staes / March 20, 2019

Festival season is almost upon us and Wednesday at the Square are a perfect pregame to get ready for the raucous calendar ahead.