Our “Celebrate Black Joy” project in partnership with Be Loud Studios was featured on WWNO. Read the interview with 826 New Orleans Program Director Kyley Pulphus and Be Loud Studios creator Alex Owens here.
Tickets are on sale now for our annual Halloween cocktail contest and dance party benefiting our free youth writing and publishing programs. You can get them here. Read on to see who you’ll get the chance to party with next Thursday, October 11.
From L to R: Justin Shiels, Megan Braden-Perry, Larry Morrow, Kimberly Patton-Bragg, Scott Hicks, Elizabeth Pearce, Paula Echevarria, Daniela Jagemann, T. Cole Newton
Hosts:
Our hosts are advocates for our students and their stories and will be leading the way in making A Dark and Stormy Night special. They will be judging our costume contest and choosing the best-presented cocktail.
Megan Braden-Perry
The author of Crescent City Snow: The Ultimate Guide to New Orleans Snowball Stands, Megan Braden-Perry is the world’s foremost authority on all things snowball. As a writer her byline has been in NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, Gambit, NY Daily News, ESSENCE, JEZEBEL, WhereTraveler and OffBeat. She is a long-time Big Class/826 New Orleans volunteer.
Justin Shiels
Justin Shiels received his BFA in Graphic Design from Loyola University New Orleans and his Masters in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans. He has over 9 years of experience in communications, marketing, and graphic design. As the Creative Director at FSC Interactive, he is passionate about creating compelling strategies, design, and content. He was an illustration for the second ever Big Class project, and has been a supporter ever since.
Larry Morrow
A 27-year-old serial entrepreneur residing in New Orleans, Larry Morrow’s claim to fame is being an event curator – producing lavish, star-studded events hosted by celebrities like Diddy, Floyd Mayweather, Drake and more. Morrow is a mild-mannered businessman who has garnered substantial success in the entertainment industry which has allowed him to launch other ventures, such as Larry Morrow Properties, his critically-acclaimed self-help book, “All Bets On Me” and most recently, Morrow’s Restaurant in New Orleans.
Cocktail Judges:
Our panel of cocktail experts from across the city will be selecting the coveted best cocktail award.
Scott Hicks
Scott was the winner of the 2017 Dark and Stormy Night Cocktail competition. He relocated to New Orleans from South Florida a few years ago and joined the James Beard Award-winning staff of CureCo. (Cure, Cane and Table, and Cafe Henri), working under mentor Kirk Estopinal. Currently, he’s part of the staff at 21st Amendment La Louisiane, a highly regarded cocktail bar in the heart of the French Quarter and local cocktail dive Twelve Mile Limit.
Kimberly Patton-Bragg
A restaurant-industry veteran with twenty years of experience under her belt, Kimberly now proudly hangs her hat at Jeff Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29. Several publications have featured Kimberly’s original cocktails, including Imbibe, The New York Times, Nightclub & Bar, Saveur, and the Times-Picayune. Kimberly honed her skills at Danny Meyer’s Blue Smoke and Jazz Standard in New York City before relocating to New Orleans.
Elizabeth Pearce
Elizabeth Pearce, founder and owner of Drink & Learn, is a Louisiana native and drinks historian who tells the story of New Orleans through its iconic beverages. She is also the Education Specialist for the Sazerac Liquor Company’s historic brands and the Drinks Curator of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, where she was the founding Senior Curator prior to creating Drink & Learn. She is the author of Drink Dat New Orleans: A Guide to the Best Cocktail Bars, Neighborhood Pubs and All Night Dives, and a co-author of The French Quarter Drinking Companion, a guidebook to the many bars of the French Quarter.
Daniela Jagemann
As the Chief of Staff for Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, Daniela has applied her knowledge to the global non-profit organization that Educates, Advances, and Supports the global hospitality industry. Her most recent accomplishments within the Foundation include facilitating the inaugural Grants Program and establishing Beyond the Bar, an initiative aimed at addressing the industry’s complex issues.
T. Cole Newton
Cole’s Mid City cocktail dive Twelve Mile Limit in 2010 has received many honors including having been selected as one of the top ten bars in New Orleans by the Times-Picayune every year that list has been published and was named the best bar in New Orleans by The Manual in 2017. He has been a huge part of making A Dark and Stormy Night happen every year!
Paula Echevarria
Food is Paula’s passion, but cocktails are her mistress, and she has been extensively covering the subject as a freelance digital journalist and social media maven for the past 5 years in publications such as Edible and the Miami New Times. She’s back in her true love New Orleans after being away for ten years, and you can follow her food and tippling adventures at Very Local New Orleans.
And our evening’s DJ:
DJ Chinua
DJ Chinua is a soundweaver for Dopeciety, Saint Heron and more. He hosts a monthly astrological party at Cafe Istanbul called Ascendance.
Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind spooky cocktail party! Purchase your tickets today.
