Published 11:01 am Saturday, November 2, 2024
By Emily Burleigh
From now on, chimes will ring through Millennium Park.
Last month, a colossus chime — a large-scale outdoor instrument where players use mallets to strike the instrument, with each chime resonating at a different frequency — was installed in Millennium Park, 900 Lakeshore Dr.
This is the start of a tradition, said Lauren Olsen, president of the This is Home Fest.
The This Is Home Fest Board, the city of Lake Charles and the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana have joined forces to install one new instrument in the park annually.
This Is Home Fest was created in 2021 in response to the “back-to-back punch” of Hurricanes Laura and Delta. The idea was to create a free music festival on the lakefront that gives Southwest Louisiana something to look forward to while enhancing the area’s quality of life with local music, culture and artistry.
“When the pandemic and hurricanes knocked us down, we decided not to stay down,” she said. “We needed something to lift our spirits and remind us why this is our home.”
Part of their mission is to secure the region’s “musical future” by nurturing musical talent in Southwest Louisiana’s youth. A good place to start is to make music accessible to anyone, she said.
“Children are our future and we hope to spark a curiosity and passion that stays with the youth of our community for the rest of their lives.”
Their support is multi-faceted. Each year, they highlight high school talent at the festival.
“We showcase them so that one day why they are well-known musicians, they’ll come back to this community and to This Is Home Fest,” Olsen said.
This Is Home Fest also offers scholarships for high school seniors, college students or graduate students in the five-parish area who are majoring or minoring in music, visual arts or performing arts. Scholarship recipients receive up to $5,000.
This Is Home Fest donated $1,000 for the installation with money raised by the 2024 festival. The city covered the rest, with total cost approximating $2,500.
This Is Home Fest is scheduled for April 26, 2025.
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