May 2021

Rebecca's Traveling Thread

Sometimes the best things in life are accidents.  

Five years ago this Memorial Day weekend when I opened my first retail location (see our June 2020 blog post) in St. Joseph, Louisiana, I honestly did not think it would be a year round prospect. I thought that we would be a “Summertime Sensation” and when the “Lake People” left town, I would just use the space as pillow storage and shipping for the website. I felt good about saving a historic building and frankly, I was hoping to lure in more internet based businesses due to the inexpensive real estate in town. I think I even posted a few Instagram pics with #theaccidentalshop. People kept coming; I had to scramble to find more inventory and soon I didn’t even have time to post anything. We suddenly became the best new secret since dry shampoo!

Rebecca Vizard of B. Viz Design peeks her head out from around the construction of B. Viz Design Global Headquarters in St. Joseph, LA. B. Viz Design Global Headquarters is celebrating our fifth anniversary this Memorial Day weekend.

Five years later..

Now, this Memorial Day weekend is a whole new ball game. As we toast our 5th anniversary of B. Viz Design Global Headquarters, the whole town is celebrating. We are having the “Party on the Plank” which means a big celebration on Plank Road. (Instead of Main Street, Plank Road’s name comes from the 19th century wooden plank boards that paved the dirt road so that wagon wheels and carriages could get through after a rain.) Friday night the most popular Cypress Knees* Band will be playing while the Fish Tale boils spicy crawfish and Maria's Mexican Restaurant dazzles us with her tasty morsels and magnificent margaritas.  

*For those of you who are unfamiliar, Cypress knees are the cone-shaped exposed growths on the buttress roots of a bald cypress.

A very busy opening weekend celebration at B. Viz Design Global Headquarters in St. Joseph, LA during Memorial Day weekend in 2015.
Exterior of B. Viz Design Global Headquarters near Lake Bruin in downtown St. Joseph, LA. The historic, no-stoplight town is buzzing with charm and natural beauty.
A peek inside the space at 142 Plank Road in St. Joseph, LA before beginning construction on B. Viz Design Global Headquarters in March 2015.
The facade of 142 Plank Road in St. Joseph, LA before becoming B. Viz Design Global Headquarters in March 2015.

"Walk the Plank" in downtown St. Joe

We will be welcoming new businesses debuting this special weekend on “The Plank.” Creating an exciting buzz is the wonderful Folkway Co. Mercantile with Austin, TX/Thibodaux roots, the most talented Ella Salt (a recently retired University of GA Professor) with Pinch of Salt Art, and my dear friend and travelling companion Ann Connelly Fine Art - St. Joseph Annex.

Ann and her husband Paul Connelly have upped the hip factor by renovating the building next door to Global Headquarters with their uber creative and sophisticated vibe. She is designing an artist in residence program with opportunities for pop up creatives also.  

It is only fitting that her first guest artist is my dear friend and Tulane roommate, Amy Jackson Dixon, originally from Monroe, Louisiana but living large these days in Denver. Amy is a well established artist represented by Ann Connelly Fine Art in Baton Rouge as well as galleries in Atlanta, Santa Fe, Charleston and more. She will be painting live during the event and Saturday morning… then having fun on our Lake Bruin dock... Please do not coerce wild college stories out of her!

Throwback: Rebecca Vizard of B. Viz Design and Denver-based artist Amy Jackson Dixon during their days at Newcomb College of Tulane University.
Throwback: Rebecca Vizard of B. Viz Design and Denver-based artist Amy Jackson Dixon are all smiles on a trip to Paris, France in the mid-1990s.
Throwback: Rebecca Vizard of B. Viz Design, Denver-based artist Amy Jackson Dixon, Ann Connelly of Ann Connelly Fine Art and Baton Rouge-based artist Chandler Holden Mittendorf are all smiles in a Parisian cafe in the mid-1990s.

Local Merchants & Artists:

Ann Connelly Fine Art

Folkway Co. Mercantile

J. Nagem Design

L. Ratcliff Art

Maria's Mexican Restaurant

Pinch of Salt Art

Plank Road Pottery

River Traders

Shop All Daye

Tensas Transplant

The Cottage

Tim's Tamales

... and more coming soon!

There's no place like home

Our hometown is in the news! Check out this recent feature in Heart of Louisiana as well as these articles from Garden & Gun and Country Roads.

— Rebecca Vizard
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