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The familiar streets of Acadiana are something to behold, however, early sunsets, long nights and winter gloom can have adverse effects on these tranquil scenes. Thanks to Natalie Broussard, Iberia Parish Council District 6, the Better Days on the Bayou campaign has successfully gathered council members and residents of New Iberia to create and display beautiful decorations around the downtown area. The Better Days on the Bayou project is a community-wide project to enhance New Iberia.

Broussard’s goal with the Better Days on the Bayou project is to boost resident’s spirits and make her constituents proud to live in her district of New Iberia. Broussard said she also wants to give residents a reason to travel around town and spend quality time with friends, family and neighbors. She even has hopes of attracting tourism and higher foot traffic within the downtown area in the months to come. Broussard also explained that the project was not limited to just decorations, but to fix various problems in New Iberia.

“We want to build relationships between the constituents and elected officials,” she said. “We just want to make our community a better place to live. It might not necessarily be just decorating.”

Another one of Broussard’s goals for the Better Days on the Bayou is for friends, family and constituents to be inspired to create a community-wide change. She said she wants to find more ways to improve the city and the overall quality of life in New Iberia.

Broussard said she hopes to expand the Better Days on the Bayou campaign to become a year-round project. She plans to decorate the downtown area for every season and for special holidays throughout the year. For example, she expects to have different decorations for Mardi Gras, Easter and Fourth of July.

The first thing on the Better Days on the Bayou agenda was the Noel Iberia project. Noel Iberia was a project implemented by Broussard to decorate downtown New Iberia with Christmas lights and decorations to boost the Christmas spirit of the residents of Iberia Parish. The project was a hit with the families and residents in Acadiana.

With the help of other council members, Broussard, friends and family, decorated the downtown area by adorning it with hand-made signs and string lights, among other decorations. This created a glow that gifted New Iberia residents the Christmas spirit and also gave the older residents a sense of nostalgia and cheer.

“I remember when I was younger, my friends and I would hop in the car and drive around and look at Christmas lights,” Broussard reflected. “You just don’t see that as much anymore.”

The next big step to beautifying and enhancing New Iberia is to get the other council members of different districts to join the Better Days on the Bayou project for the months to come.

“This is just the beginning,” said Broussard. “We want to spread the spirit and cheer to all the people in the downtown area. We are just a group of friends that want to improve our community. We’ve gotten together and for Better Days on the Bayou and we look forward to working with each other in our community to improve it for the life of our children and grandchildren.”

Though the future plans for the Better Days on the Bayou community projects are still in the works, it is never too early to sign up or contribute to this project, along with other community projects in New Iberia, to make Acadiana a nice and beautiful place to live.

All ages are encouraged to contribute to the Better Days on the Bayou community projects. To sign up and get involved in one of the upcoming projects, check out the Better Days on the Bayou Facebook page or contact Natalie Broussard, Iberia Parish Council District 6 on Facebook or by phone and email.