Weeks before the opening of Celebration in the Oaks, New Orleans City Park’s flagship winter holiday event, the giant oak tree at the center of the Botanical Garden was short of lights.

Park staff who were prepping for the popular event had more lights on order, but supply-chain issues related to the deadly Nov. 4 UPS flight crash were threatening to delay delivery.

“I’ll run to Home Depot,” City Park Conservancy CEO Rebecca Dietz told her team while walking through the Botanical Gardens earlier this month. She then shifted gears to fundraising. Could they find corporate sponsors for the Cajun Navy display across from the tree?

It was a fairly standard set of suggestions from Dietz, a former vice president and chief administrative officer at the park who was promoted to CEO in 2024 af

See Full Page