Coronavirus takes the heart of Tangipahoa Parish
Every Spring in Tangipahoa Parish, people flock to the festival grounds, the Florida Parishes arena and the baseball park in anticipation of an event filled season - but not this year.
The coronavirus has seeped into every part of life in Tangipahoa Parish, including the tourism industry. Hotels are vacant, shops are closed and event centers are empty. COVID-19 has stripped the parish of its important tourism revenue.
The Executive Director of Tangipahoa Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau and Tangipahoa Tourism, Carla Tate, spoke on the impact the coronavirus has had on local tourism.
Tate said, “Tourism is funded off of occupancy tax from hotels, campgrounds and bed and breakfasts. One hotel just decided to close one of their properties for the time being to focus on having one up and running.”
If Tangipahoa Tourism cannot collect the occupancy tax from these businesses, then it has no funding.
“Our only source of funding is coming from people staying in our parish,” commented Tate.
Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller discussed the importance of tourism to Tangipahoa Parish.
“I think it is one of the major economic factors that we have going for us in the parish,” noted Miller.
For the parish with the “Move Here” motto, Governor John Bel Edwards’ stay at home order has highly disrupted the way of life for Tangipahoa Parish citizens.
Miller stated, “Events like this coronavirus come about and everyone is under this stay at home order and it keeps our universities, recreational parks and arena from having visitors.”
Since events like the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, the Amite Oyster Festival, and the Independence Sicilian Heritage Festival have been canceled or postponed, the community is losing money.
“For a lot of nonprofits this is their one fundraising opportunity. For our farmers, they are being hurt. These fairs and festivals impact them,” said Tate.
Apart from the financial strain COVID-19 has put on the tourism industry, it also disrupted the bonding and the heritage of the community.
The 2020 Independence Sicilian Heritage Festival Queen Isabella Correnti shared what the cancellation of the festival means to her since she will never have this opportunity again.
“A lot of people don’t realize what the festivals actually mean to the queen. It was finally my year and something that was completely out of everyone’s control was like nope you don’t get it,” Correnti noted.
Young women compete for the opportunity to represent their community, and once they are crowned they are not allowed to try for the same title again.
Correnti commented, “I’m done, I don’t get anything else.”
The coronavirus has significantly changed the way of life for the community of Tangipahoa Parish, but this disaster does not have to define the future.
“I do believe we will come back, as humans we will come back. Look at the two floods of 2016, we came back,” noted Miller.
