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: Mardi Gras is coming quick
So you thought it was a “long” Carnival season? Parades kick off this week!
Canoodling in the Crescent City: romantic spots for Valentine’s Day
More often than not, Valentine’s Day gets overlooked because it falls on the day of one of your favorite parades, but this year, it shines all by itself before the big parades start.
NOPD releases video in NFL robbery investigation
Tackling the robbery head-on, the First 48-style video pokes fun at one of the biggest sports tragedies to-date.
From Katrina to cookies: How a New Orleans baker turned sorrow into sweets
Baker Daniela Brenes, talked about her cookies that have gone viral on Facebook and how you can get your hands on some for bae.
Weekend Picks: Everything but watching that football game
There’s so much going on in the city, we won’t have to watch football on Sunday!
Super Bowl Blackout Second Line planned for Sunday
“Please join us as we mourn the untimely ending of the New Orleans Saints season,” reads the Facebook post announcing the second line.
2019 French Quarter Fest music cubes are out!
Beginning Friday morning, festival-goers can download the French Quarter Festival App and start planning.
Ruby Slipper offers special menu for Super Bowl Weekend
Ruby Slipper’s Super Bowl weekend offerings rename southern classics like brioche French toast, but with a tongue-in-cheek twist.
Boycott Bowl might be the biggest #PettyParty yet
In the spirit of doing everything else other than watch the game we’re supposed to be playing in, the Boycott Bowl is pulling in big names like Choppa to celebrate the city.
Hot Take: Savory king cake isn’t king cake, it’s crawfish bread
Honorable mention: Don’t bring your gluten-free king cake to the office, either. We don’t want it.