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.

What is Afrofuturism? BlerdFest aims to answer that at its first sci-fi convention in New Orleans

By Mary Staes / April 4, 2019

Were you the weird kid, the oddball, the amine or comic book stan? This one’s for you.

☔Rain, rain go away, don’t you want to fest today?🌩

By Mary Staes / April 4, 2019

The weather the past week was gorgeous! Sunny skies, a little breeze. Oh, spring was here!

Weekend Picks: Spring is here! Time to get outdoors!

By Mary Staes / April 3, 2019

Grab your windbreaker (because MAYBE it’ll be chilly and/or rainy) so you’re prepared for the unpredictable New Orleans weather, and get out there!

Road tripping for Ponchatoula Strawberry Fest? Here’s what you need to know.

By Mary Staes / April 3, 2019

It’s a berry good time!

Geaux forth and fest: Our picks for April

By Mary Staes / April 1, 2019

Here are our picks for local fests in April, and even a few must-do ones out of the city.

#PupsOfJay: This New Orleans UPS driver’s Instagram will make you howl with joy

By Mary Staes / March 29, 2019

Hardesty isn’t just any delivery driver. He loves pups. He loves them so much, there’s even a hashtag dedicated to his amour: #PupsOfJay.

This NOLA UPS driver’s Instagram is the best thing you’ll see all day

By Mary Staes / March 28, 2019

Thanks us later.

Two tons of bacon and what do you get? Hog heaven.

By Mary Staes / March 28, 2019

Bringing back the bacon for the second year in a row, the festival’s opening night is celebrating everyone’s first love.

Weekend Picks: Festival season is here!

By Mary Staes / March 28, 2019

Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, Congo Square Fest, Fried Chicken Fest, Beignet Fest, Po-Boy Fest, Creole Tomato Fest, Mac and Cheese Fest, Voodoo Fest,  Satchmo Summerfest, it’s all about to happen!

Jazz fest Cubes are here! These are our picks for both weekends

By Mary Staes / March 26, 2019

Organizers made the announcement during a press conference Tuesday morning, letting festers know when performers like Katy Perry, Big Freedia, J Balvin and The Revivalists.