Our Most Sophisticated Mardi Gras Parade

We must admit that we missed the 2009 Grand Parade of the Soulard Mardi Gras on Saturday, February 21. The temps were freezing and a wicked wind pushed the wind chill into the 20's.

Missing the 2009 version of the parade might be perceived as a tragedy, since it is promoted as the crown jewel of the Soulard Mardi Gras and as an extremely sophisticated parade, second only to the public displays associated with a royal coronation. To be honest, those officers and members of Mardi Gras, Inc., and the Soulard Restoration Group carry themselves as though they are royalty. We know that the rest of the world wishes they were one with this in-crowd, with The Swells of Soulard. But you aren’t, so eat your heart out.

In fact, Madame Chouteau missed the parade not because of the weather but because the parade is so pathetic.

Here are some pictures from the 2008 parade. You could park your rosin chair next to the pumps at any truck stop in Pevely or Fenton and see a better parade of trucks, and without the drunken crowds. Bring your own beads and have a ball. And the booze would be cheaper, so you could get a good buzz on and have money left over to buy a six-pack or two to drink on your drive home.

It should be mentioned that the photos were taken at the beginning of the parade and do not advantageously display the parade setting: a stretch of road whimsically and romantically titled South Broadway, a post-industrial urban boulevard, complete with potholes and eroding curbs, embroidered with a surly spectrum of gas stations, worn at the edges fast food outlets, liquor stores, vacant buildings and trash strewn lots. To hear The Swells of Soulard talk, Mardi Gras turns South Broadway into some kind of Rodeo Drive. The Grand Parade does lend a certain flavor to South Broadway. The old computer saw about garbage in, garbage out comes to mind.

Thus, it is puzzling to witness the hubbub made over the Grand Parade and Grand Parade Day.

For example, why would Loonyness Place, the newest gambling venue here in St. Louis and a source of great civic pride to people starved for signs of municipal health, associate itself with this debacle by sponsoring it? Why would a supposed sophisticated business want to stand cheek by jowl with Mardi Gras Inc. and its child, the Grand Parade, a lame come-on for a faux festival trying mightily to disguise the fact that selling over-priced booze (and as much as possible to anybody) is its reason for existence?

Is this a cool branding move? Madame Chouteau has found that one way to determine whether somebody has a semblance of good sense and effectively evaluates reality is to bring up the subject of the Grand Parade Day. Those with a life say they wouldn’t get anywhere near the event. They accurately appraise it as "just a bunch of drunks."

So here is Your Sponsorship, LP, the entertainment venue whose unique contribution to St. Louis is a tunnel from the underutilized domed football stadium (which soon will be really underutilized) to their new digs in Laclede’s Landing. A tunnel from nowhere to nothing. Why does it associate with MG Inc? Maybe it helps management feel superior. Scientists aren’t sure.

In a city insecure about its identity and direction and hosting a leadership trumpeting self-serving answers and solutions, the Soulard Mardi Gras Grand Parade Day is a symptom of the continuing malaise confronting Soulard and St. Louis. Is a Grand Drunk - enthusiastically boosted as an answer by those who know better - the preview of things to come?

More Recognition of Steve and Veronica Baetje

Steve and Veronica Baetje, who make Soulard Farmers’ Market shoppers so happy with their outstanding goat milk products, were recently recognized by the Southeast Missouri University for their entrepreneurial skills. In late February it was announced that Baetje Farms LLC was one of the recipients of the 2009 SPARK Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence from the Southeast Innovation Center.

The Baetje’s are goat farmers and artisan cheese makers. The goats are hand raised on their farm, located in Bloomsdale, MO. Steve and Veronica rely on the assistance of friends and family members to tend the goats and to produce their award-winning cheeses. Their cheeses are sold at four farmers’ markets, including at Soulard, in several restaurants and wineries and at 17 grocery stores.

The business was one of six small businesses in the tri-state region that were recognized by the Southeast University Innovation Center for growth and economic impact in the region. Each of the SPARK Award winners were graduates from a nationally recognized and high successful small business training program, titled Operation Jump-Start, created and conducted by the Innovation Center. Objective of the program is to teach entrepreneurs essential business planning and preparation skills in a non-academic setting. For additional information about the Innovation Center, visit their site at http://www.semo.edu/innovation.

Madame Chouteau wishes to add that Steve and Veronica and those who help them at the Soulard booth are just wonderful people. Shoppers are encouraged to stop and chat with them at the market, and to sample and purchase their products.

New Market Vendor offers Heart-Healthy Beef

Grass-fed, heart-healthy beef is brought to Soulard Farmers’ Market shoppers by Bob and Sue Eckenfels and partner Robert Hoye from Hoye Brothers Farm (HBF), located in Ste. Genevieve.

HBF occupies 114 acres of the rolling countryside which characterizes the typography of the Ste. Genevieve area. The pastures provide cool and warm season grasses, red and white clover and annual forage plots of rye and mullet, according to by Bob and Sue.

They explain that the pastures are divided into 14 individual paddocks and each is supplied with abundant well water. The cattle herds are rotated from paddock to paddock, allowing them to graze on high-quality, nutrient-rich grasses. The resulting beef is a tasty alternative to factory farmed, store-bought beef, Sue explains.

The HBF herds consist of Murray Grey and Angus cattle, known for the rich flavor of their beef. All are 100 per cent grass fed and are never given grain, antibiotics, hormones, anabolic steroids or growth stimulants, Sue notes.

She adds that beef from grass-fed animals is much lower in calories and fat than grain-fed animals, is high in healthful omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene and vitamin E, and is a rich source of cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). The meat is flash frozen and shrink-wrapped.

At present, Bob and Sue can be found at the booth usually occupied by Steve and Veronica Baetje, who sell that outstanding goat cheese. Steve and Veronica will be back at their stand after the kidding season, of course, at which time Bob and Sue will move to a more permanent location at the Market.

For information about cuts of meat available and prices, contact Bob and Sue by phone at 573-883-0337, by e-mail at mailto:bseckenfels@yahoo.com. Best, visit them at the Soulard Market on Saturday. We welcome them as new vendors to the famous Soulard Farmers' Market.

A Bitter Day for the Soulard Mardi Gras

The so-called Grand Parade Day symbolizes Soulard Mardi Gras. The day - which should be called the "Grand Drunk Day" - was held on Saturday, February 21. It is now over. Thank God.

The actual parade, which started at 11 a.m. and ended at 2 p.m., left the rest of the day for the bars and miscellaneous stands to sell booze, until outside sales ended at 8 p.m. and inside sales ended with a last call at 10:30 and bar closing at 11 p.m. Fortunately, the weather was cold, with temperatures in the low thirties. The cold was aided and abetted by a cutting wind, helpfully reducing the amount of trash - the drinkers - in the neighborhood.

During the time between the end of the parade and the merciful termination of liquor sales, there was nothing to do but to drink and to parade the streets. People did just that: drinking, mindlessly screaming and yelling, littering, engaging in a spectrum of anti-social activities, disrespecting themselves and the neighborhood. The ungodly noise and the trash produced by these annoying people seemed to be endless. Their behavior held the neighborhood hostage.

The halting of liquor sales finally finished what the wind and the cold temperatures (not to mention self respect and manners) could not accomplish: sending the remaining rubbish home, bringing to a close for another year this bleak, dangerous, ugly little faux festival, nudging elsewhere the awful folks who think that because they are half drunk (or all drunk), then they must be having a good time. Closing the tills of those whose greed for a fistful of dollars allows them to overlook what they do to the Soulard neighborhood and to the City of St. Louis.

Second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the nation, they brag. In reality, it is nothing but a public debacle, a blot on the landscape, a spectacle offering more insights into the leadership and personality of this town than anybody should want to reveal.

Soulard Mardi Gras Grand Parade day is truly a bleak, bitter day, even during those years when that day is warm and the wind is stilled.

Baetje Farm Booth Displays Gingerbread Home

At the Baetje Farm booth at the Soulard Farmers' Market, Steve Baetje displays a gingerbread house he made and patterned after a Soulard French Second Empire townhouse. Steve created the delicious looking model to publicize the December 20, 2008 drawing at their booth for a Christmas cheese plate which features their products. Baetje Farms owners Veronica and Steve Baetje produce pure, artisan farmstead goat milk cheese, "the most delicious cheese you ever put in your whole mouth," as Lafayette Square resident and seamstress Lyn deMoss comments. She runs Studio L, a drapery workroom, and she adds that "Steve and Veronica are just wonderful folks. They just welcome everybody to the Soulard Market at their booth."

Mid-August Farmers' Market Shopping

Lafayette Square resident and gourmet cook Kelly Steiman garners food tips from Chef Justin Keimon of Franco's Bistro, located at 1535 S. 8th Street. Justin was featured on August 9th in the Chefs at the Market program, held on July and August Saturdays in the front courtyard at the market.



Kelly purchased a pound of home made sweet butter from Chris Bequette at the Harr Family Farm booth, located on the western most end of the northeast wing. The butter is available salted or sweet, and many market shoppers love this product, including Kelly. It is one of those "best kept secrets."


Franco's Bistro is located on the first floor of the old Welsh Baby Carriage Factory, directly north of the Soulard Farmers' Market building. In fact, their door is the first one right out the back door of the Soulard Farmers Market after crossing the street. It was voted "Best New Restaurant" when it first opened. It is a bright spot on the St. Louis restaurant scene. Their phone is (314) 426-2500, and you can visit them at their site at http://www.eatatfranco.com/. The Chefs at the Market program provides an opportunity for interaction with professional food folks.


Other good buys at the Market on Saturday, August 9 were fresh sweet corn, blueberries from Michigan, locally grown melons - picked ripe and brought to you fresh, peaches, grapes, flowers and you name it. Specialty items include goat cheese from the Baetje Farm booth and sweet corn from Scharf.

Continuation: Litter is Good, No?

The boasting of the Soulard Restoration Group about its litter abatement program illustrates the bankruptcy of neighborhood leadership. Resolving the litter problem is something we all need to confront and be responsible for. We all need to work to improve Soulard, Madame Chouteau believes. Perversely, the SRG has assigned litter control to Marvin Powell and his crew, which Madame Chouteau assumes to consist of homeless people - hired for a few dollars.

Just as Alderwoman Phyllis Young has done nothing to rein in the curse of the designation of Soulard as an "Entertainment District," so the Soulard Restoration Group displays its impotence by palming off our litter on the homeless, making them responsible for the mess.

Their clueless approach to problem solving is detailed in the June, 2008 issue of the SRG publication Soulard Renaissance (subtitled "Living with History") in the lead article, titled "Krewe of Clean on the Scene."

The article, written by Ann Russell, comments that "yes, for the first time in a few years, Soulard is enjoying a sustained weekly litter clean-up program. Overseen by Marvin Powell of Peter & Paul Community Services (PPCS), the Soulard Clean Krewe has taken to the streets at least once a weekend (weather permitted) since March."

The article continues with SRG President Don Kirby explaining that "then after they go out, our task force members - me included - take a bike ride around the neighborhood and see what’s been done and what needs attention next round. It’s an effort that involves many great organizations who all have one goal in mind - a clean, safe Soulard."

The program is funded by a grant of $5000 from Peter and Paul Housing Corporation (PPHC), a non-profit organization separate from PPCS. This grant was matched by funds from the Soulard Business Association (SBA) and the Soulard Restoration Group, from what Madame Chouteau can understand from the article.

Rather than suggesting that the neighborhood residents, property owners, business owners and visitors to the neighborhood assume responsibility for their actions and for cleaning up the neighborhood, the Renaissance article provides an e-mail address (trashman@soulard.org) so that people report where the litter is thickest. Then the homeless can be dispatched to solve the problem. The homeless can wipe the neighborhood’s bottom, once a week.

In fact, Madame Chouteau eagerly awaited the July issue of the Soulard Renaissance, hopeful that a follow-up editorial would suggest that all who live in the neighborhood, who recreate here or who just pass through join the efforts of the homeless crew and support them by not littering and by picking up after themselves. But the pages are silent on the subject.

Nowhere in the lengthy June article was there mention of individual responsibility or the necessity of community involvement - other than reporting the location of litter. The tone of the article implies that the swells of the SRG consider the problem is solved - by a weekly sweep. If the Soulard Restoration Group abdicates its leadership role by supporting band-aid solutions, at least Alderwoman Phyllis Young could have issued a statement, something like:

"We all need to work together to try to solve the litter problem in Soulard (and throughout St. Louis, for that matter). Whether you are a property owning resident, a tenant, a non-resident landlord or a visitor to one of our many bars, places of business, or a restaurant, we ask your assistance. Please do not litter. Please help make Soulard more user-friendly and attractive by picking up litter that thoughtless people have created. If you are an owner of a business which sells alcoholic beverages, please do not let your patrons exit your premises with open beverage containers. These containers often end up littering the landscape. Please pick up the newspapers and flyers found in the streets and gutters. Please use City of St. Louis trash containers appropriately. Those who are dog owners need to pick up after their animals, too. If we all work together, we can have an impact. Please join Marvin Powell and his crew to help make Soulard a better place to live, to do business and to visit. After all, if they can do it, so can the rest of us. Thank you for your contribution to our neighborhood."