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.
Chocolate Santa is back! We’ve got where you can catch him for pictures
Generations of kids have pictures with Fred Parker, better known as Chocolate Santa or 7th Ward Santa.
Weekend Picks: Holidays are in full swing!
So, it’s not cold outside, but the city is all lit up with the spirit of Christmas!
Know Your NOLA: Catahoula Hotel: How Locals Can Enjoy This Award-Winning Oasis
The Catahoula Hotel transports you to a place with a bohemian, almost South-American vibe, an island of sorts in the busy mix of downtown. And you don’t have to be a tourist to enjoy it.
Brother’s coming to new airport terminal – but there’s no fried chicken
So, what’s the point of the new Brother’s? We were really looking forward to that chicken, to be honest.
Know Your NOLA: Sweet silence: Audubon Nature Center offers a quiet retreat in New Orleans East
Perhaps the best thing about the nature center isn’t the solitude, or the wildlife. It’s that while it sits in the same place, it’s a new experience every time you visit.
Krewe of Krampus: Welcome to the dark side of Christmas
“Krampus knows when you’ve been naughty, and he doesn’t care if you’ve been nice.”
Shopping for those Christmas gifts? Geaux local!
We know it’s tempting to go to big box retailers and sites for your gifts, but there are plenty of amazing gift ideas from local shops and entrepreneurs.
Help break a Guinness world record at a Supa toy giveaway!
Social media moguls Jessica Dupart and Wazzam Supa are shooting for a Guinness World Record so big it has to be in the Supa-Dome!
A guide to Reveillon dinners in New Orleans
The word reveillon comes from the French word for ‘awakening.’
A beignet burger? Disney does its own take on New Orleans cuisine, again.
Between two circular pieces of fried dough and powdered sugar sits a burger, dressed with cheese, bacon jam, lettuce, pickles and onions.