We hope everyone will have a warm pot of black-eyed peas simmering on their stovetop on Sunday.

The tasty meal is intended to ensure good luck over the coming year and while we don’t necessarily count folk wisdom as fact, we do hope our community and our readers prosper over the coming year. There has been quite a bit written in the national media about 2016, but here in Washington Parish, we, too, had quite a time. From the flooding that hit us in March to the statewide budget crunch that made our taxes rise and cut certain services, we have not had too many bright spots.

However, there were a few memorable moments. Those moments included a knock-out parish fair, a great turnout at our Mardi Gras parade and a determined and total recovery in Cassidy Park. Our 2016 Blues and Heritage Festival might have been a good time for our visitors, but given the months of hard work by our city workers, the celebration felt downright cathartic around here.

The thing about tragedies and hard times is, they come. Economic struggles and natural disasters happen. It’s the people around us who make us whole and get us through the darkness and we have those people in abundance in Washington Parish.

So, let us eat our black-eyed peas. Let us wish one another luck and hope for a good New Year. But, let us also remember we’ve got something a little more solid than mere luck around here, too.

Have a happy New Year.