We can boast about having some incredible annual events in our community and this week we focus on one of them, Mudbug Madness. You can find my full discussion with Terri Matthews here.

Here are the questions I asked:

0:25 1. Mudbug Madness is coming up. It will be held from May 23rd-May 25th this year. What will be the same about it this year as previous years and what will be different?

3:10 2. I am going to lean on you today for some history. Your involvement and commitment to Mudbug Madness are inspiring and deserve serious recognition. When and how did Mudbug Madness first get started? What is it today versus what was it when you first started being a part of it?

6:02 3. Because I have heard you talk some about it previously. Share some history of how festival plaza came to be.

7:50 4. You are Executive Director of Downtown Shreveport Unlimited (or DSU as many know it). You chiefly oversee four events. Tell me a little about the three others, in addition to Mudbug Madness.

9:08 5. You once said, “I believe we’re supposed to give back to our community. I love Shreveport. Yes, it has challenges. I face them every day. But, it’s where I’ve chosen to stay. If I’ve chosen that, I need to give back."

How do we get our young people to think like you do? Or the generations coming behind you to see this in the way that you see it?

11:57 6. DSU is housed in the Visit Shreveport-Bossier office building. I know Visit Shreveport-Bossier has done great work around trying to pinpoint the best way to brand us and find what our unique identity is as a community. Many cities similar-sized to us have large universities and/or sports teams that bring the community together. We probably will never have either of those things in Shreveport-Bossier. But we do have numerous great events like the ones that you oversee.

So all that to say, because I think about this all the time about the Y where I work. How do we take what happens during your events – the palpable community pride and everyone coming together - and make that more of a recurring part of our daily lives in Shreveport-Bossier?