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.

Weekend Picks: Uptown parades start… let the marathon begin

By Mary Staes / February 12, 2020

Uptown parades start this weekend! Grab your ladders, dranks and patience… it’s Carnival time!

Switch and Signal Skatepark

Parades every weekend! Get ready ya’ll, the Carnival marathon is beginning

By Mary Staes / February 6, 2020

IT’S CARNIVAL, Y’ALL! Parades! Every! Weekend! It’s time to put on your good (and comfy) shoes because the marathon is beginning Friday. To get you prepped for the parading, we have the deets.

Weekend Picks (Feb. 7-9): Parade season is here!

By Mary Staes / February 4, 2020

While the Uptown parades don’t start until next week, krewes roll through the French Quarter and New Orleans East this weekend.

Dear Chad, please don’t be a jerk for Mardi Gras

By Mary Staes / January 30, 2020

There are a few things you should know so you don’t come off as overly rude.

Weekend Picks Jan. 31- Feb. 2: Chewbacchus, crawfish and the Super Bowl

By Mary Staes / January 28, 2020

We’ve got less than a month until Mardi Gras day, and we’re getting into costumes, headdresses, glitter and ball gowns!

Dxie Brewery rendering front

Weekend Picks: New Downtown underground speakeasy, Dixie Brewery grand openings

By Mary Staes / January 23, 2020

Dixie Brewery and a new underground bar and lounge are both opening their doors to the public this weekend.

Jazz Fest 2020 announced: Lizzo, The Who, Stevie Nicks, Lenny Kravitz to perform

By Mary Staes / January 16, 2020

Lizzo, The Lumineers, Erykah Badu and Wu-Tang Clan are coming to Jazz Fest as organizers announced their 2020 artist lineup Thursday morning.

Footprints to Fitness: Baby steps to making your resolutions stick

By Mary Staes / January 15, 2020

King cake season is here, and festival season is soon coming. How are we going to keep up this ‘new year, new me’ mentally when it comes to fitness?

Weekend Picks (Jan. 17-19): Accio LPO; New Year, New Look; LEGO Expo

By Mary Staes / January 15, 2020

Whether you’re getting ready for Mardi Gras or looking for a spot to salsa, here are our weekend picks for Jan. 17-19:

Under the Shady Tree: social media trolls the Clemson Tigers mascot during National Championship against LSU

By Mary Staes / January 14, 2020

Let’s be honest, this mascot looks like he’s straight from Party City.