Shreveport Louisiana
There is a renewed interest in Shreveport, the great North Louisiana city located in the heart of the Ark-La-Tex. Shreveport is booming with the success of the casino industry, the opening of the Shreveport Convention Center, the Haynesville Shale natural gas discoveries, the expanding motion picture & TV industry, and the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City across the Red River. And of course people everywhere want to know more about "Bayou Billionaires", "My Big Redneck Vacation", and "Billy the Exterminator" that are filmed for TV with characters from the Shreveport area. Read more below about reality TV shows in this area ... Attractions and Entertainment The Shreveport waterfront along the Red River is the home of restaurants, museums, retail stores, convention facilities and gaming and gambling casinos.
The Barnwell Art & Garden Center, the Norton Art Gallery, the Municipal Auditorium where Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, and other stars of the 50s and 60s made history draw significant numbers of visitors to the area. The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum on the grounds of the Louisiana State Fair, the American Rose Center and other attractions make Shreveport a regional tourism destination. The Shreveport-Bossier area is the home to the Horseshoe Hotel & Casino, Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino, Diamond Jack’s Casino Resort, Eldorado Casino Resort, Boomtown Casino, and Harrah’s Louisiana Downs horse track and casino. Festivals such as the Red River Revel and Mudbug Madness draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, as do the many Krewes that stage parades during Mardi Gras in Shreveport. The annual Independence Bowl held in late December features two of the nation's top NCAA Division I teams. Reality TV Shows Being Filmed Around Shreveport
CMT has launched a new show "Bayou Billionaires," meant for everyone who has ever dreamed of striking it rich overnight. The show focuses on the Dowden family of Shreveport who struck it rich from oil money from the Haynesville Shale natural gas play in northwest Louisiana. The Dowdens' home sits right on top of this huge deposit of natural gas. After years of pinching pennies and balancing budgets, Gerald, Kitten, Chantel and the rest of the Dowden family are ready to enjoy the finer things in life, sparing no expense. They all live on a "compound" near the small town of Frierson, located south of Shreveport, off I-49 between Stonewall and Caspiana in DeSoto Parish. CMT also launched another new series in January of 2012, "My Big Redneck Vacation," featuring several North Louisiana families. The script portrays a group of countrified, loud-mouthed families from Louisiana as they move into a $4 million home in the Hamptons of New York. Episodes include polo lessons, wine-tasting, and a wedding. The families in the show are from the area just southwest of Shreveport, near Keachi, Keithville and Stonewall. Read more about "My Big Redneck Vacation", "Billy the Exterminator", the TV series, airs on the A&E Network, and showcases the life and work of Billy Bretherton, an expert in the field of pest control and the proprietor of Vexcon Animal and Pest Control in Benton, Louisiana, located just north of the Shreveport and Bossier City area. Shreveport Hotels, Motels, Lodging and Restaurants Central Arts Station
Central Artstation, a $4.5 million project, is currently underway in downtown Shreveport by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC). Everyone in Shreveport knows this classic building at 801 Crockett Street with its green glazed terra cotta style tile roof. Built in 1922, it remained in use as a fire station until 2004. The historic structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The restoration and renovation project will provide offices for SRAC’s administrative staff, and will also will provide developmental space for artists and arts organizations. To be included are a rehearsal space, production space, Emerging Arts Gallery, and artists' tower. The building also will be lit from the outside, which will make it glow, a virtual beacon to artists and the public in the growing Shreveport cultural district. Architects are LeBlanc & Young Architects. Completion is projected in late summer of 2012. Barksdale Air Force Base
Another major element of the Shreveport-Bossier City economy is Barksdale Air Force Base, long a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) facility. Construction began on Barksdale Field in 1931, and the facility was dedicated on February 2, 1933. Since that time, the base has hosted a number of key operational and training elements of the Air Force. Today, it is serves as Headquarters of the Eighth Air Force, among other units. Be sure to see the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform at the Barksdale AFB air show on April 21 - 22, 2012. details at the Thunderbirds website Shreveport History
Alexandria and Shreveport have been connected via the Red River for eons, and later via LA Highway 1 and Interstate 49. We have traversed those highways between the two cities literally hundreds of times. We grew up in Shreveport, and our connections with Shreveport are strong, from the past, and to this day. Today, we make frequent trips to Shreveport from nearby Tyler, Texas. We see reminders of the good times whenever we travel there, and when we filter back through the historic photographs and postcards of the past. As we drive past the retro motels along historic U.S. 80, and cruise the antique shops and residences on Line Avenue, the City of Shreveport continues to have a fond place in our hearts, and minds. Ever since the Red River was cleared and made newly navigable by Captain Henry Shreve, who removed a 180-mile long logjam, Shreveport has exhibited an entrepreneurial spirit that remains strong even today. In 1994, the Red River was again made navigable, this time by the U.S. by the Army Corps of Engineers with the completion of a series of lock-and-dam structures and a navigation channel. Today, Shreveport-Bossier City is again being developed as a port and shipping center. Be sure to view our gallery of Shreveport photographs, connecting the present to the past, and our gallery of Shreveport art deco motels and tourist courts. For more information, we recommend contacting the Shreveport - Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau
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