DeAnna Barabin had a surprise in store for her 7-year-old son Saturday as they pulled up to the Throw Dat Dirt ATV park in North Baton Rouge.

He loves riding the off-road four-wheelers and had been begging to return to the park. Now he would get to do his favorite thing, while also enjoying a new fall festival that offered lots of other activities.

“When we pulled up to the gas station with the trailer, he screamed,” Barabin said. “I just really love that they have all these activities for the kids, and they just get to ride and ride and ride.”

The Boots and Roots Fall Festival debuted Saturday, marking a new chapter in the Levitt AMP Baton Rouge Music Series to celebrate Creole heritage, local entrepreneurship and Louisiana soul.

In 2022, Scotland Saturdays, a local nonprofit, partnered with the national Levitt Foundation to create the Levitt AMP Baton Rouge Music Series. This foundation hosts free music festivals across the country to enrich communities with live music. Scotland Saturdays is one of 32 organizations granted this partnership and was recently renewed for another three years. 

Byron Washington, founder of Scotland Saturdays and co-coordinator of the Levitt AMP Music Foundation in Baton Rouge, has helped lead a revitalization of the broader Scotlandville and North Baton Rouge community. Through his work, he said, he has seen businesses reopen and new projects develop to help shape and uplift the area. 

The Boots and Roots Fall Festival is part of the revitalization and a celebration of the community’s roots, he said.

“The name of the event is a call back to the heritage of the greater Baton Rouge community,” Washington said. “Its Creole heritage of people being raised in what we call country and rural areas where you need cowboy boots or work boots outside.”

The Levitt series guarantees 10 free concerts each year across the spring and fall seasons. The concerts offer consistent, free events for families to enjoy, Washington said.  

Deciding to partner with Throw Dat Dirt ATV Park for Saturday’s event came from a long-standing relationship developed as community partners with the owners of the park. It’s a unique opportunity to have ATVs in the community to rent, Washington said. 

“This just brings another attraction to North Baton Rouge already that a lot of people aren’t even aware of, or even if they did, they didn’t know where the location is, so now we get more people to see where they are,” Washington said. 

Free cultural community events, like the festival, allow North Baton Rouge to finally begin telling  its story, Washington said, and residents can see that they don’t always have to go across town; they can have fun in their community. 

“The idea of saying ‘we don’t have anything to do in Baton Rouge,’ I want to dispel that myth. I want people to say we do have something going on here,” Washington said. 

Earlier this year, during the spring season of the Levitt AMP Baton Rouge Music Series, the organizers hosted blues and jazz singer and songwriter Quiana Lynell with blues guitarist and singer Kenny Neal. After the performance, Neal, who is from south Louisiana, expressed his interest in becoming involved to give back to the community. He was Saturday’s featured artist. 

Giving small businesses an opportunity to make money in their community also is something Scotland Saturdays has been building for years. 

Tonya Gordon and her daughter, Paige Necole, both showcased their two businesses at the festival.

Necole started Valley House Crochet when she picked up crocheting in her free time a year ago. She has created a variety of handcrafted accessories and clothes.

Gordon is the general manager of Valley House Market, a women-owned neighborhood grocery store. She also hosts pop-up shops helping small businesses in North Baton Rouge be seen.

“We try to provide the community with food, instead of beads and candy,” Gordon said. “When I see people who look like they cook, and I say ‘Hey, I have red beans and rice,’ they are so thankful. They’re able to cook for their kids or grandkids, and I like seeing that.”

Saturday, dozens of families spread across the park, children in bounce houses, some sitting in lawn chairs, others on ATVs, racing across a field. In yet another corner of the park under the pavilion, an array of small businesses welcomed shoppers. Among the items for sale were handmade African clothes and denim outfits by Margret Fort, who used a combination of different materials, such as flannels and denim. 

“I started making skirts out of blue jeans about 20 or 30 years ago,” Fort said. “I went on Pinterest a few years ago, and I didn’t know they did so much with denim. I was shocked. I cut up my materials, like pants and jackets, to put together this jumpsuit.”

Growing and drawing attention to community events is an ongoing process, Washington said. He wants to show consistent improvement for the events.

“Sometimes we have to slow churn the butter a little bit to make these events happen,” Washington said.

This story was reported and written by a student with the support of the non-profit Louisiana Collegiate News Collaborative, an LSU-led coalition of eight universities funded by the Henry Luce and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundations.