Getting the hell out of Dodge
Riding around town, you are likely to spot one or more 14-foot-high steel stick men, sandblasted to a high sheen and posed with an arm thrust in the air. The sculptures denote EvacuSpots, one of several measures implemented after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the feared impact of Hurricane Gustav in 2008. There are 17 of these designated areas, where people can wait to be picked up by city buses and taken out of harm’s way should a major hurricane threaten.
The most enduring images from Katrina were of abandoned residents stuck on rooftops; wading through water fouled with sewage, snakes, and sometimes bloated dead bodies; and shoved into the “shelter of last resort,” the Superdome, which was left without power and quickly became a hellish swamp of misery. A volunteer group, Evacuteer, formed in 2009 and devised a hurricane evacuation plan for those without the means to leave the city. They held a nationwide contest to find an artist to design statues to blazon the pickup locales. Douglas Kornfeld, a sculptor, landscape designer, and teacher from Cambridge, MA, was chosen. Kornfeld did not attempt to incorporate any of New Orleans’ well-known symbols into his design; rather he created a simple human form in a hailing-a-taxi posture. As a non-New Orleanian, he didn’t initially realize that this was also the traditional pose people assume at every Mardi Gras parade to solicit beads and swag from the float riders.
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Address 17 locations throughout the city; consult the EvacuSpot map at www.evacuteer.org | Tip The least-expensive shop with the largest inventory of carnival beads (more than 300 styles), masks, boas, plush toys, decorations, and novelties is Mardi Gras Spot (2812 Toulouse St), a warehouse tucked into the middle of not much else in Mid-City.
Each sculpture weighs 850 pounds and is made from rust-resistant steel, similar in tensile strength to the type used in bridges. Kornfeld claims his sturdy stick men should last for 100 years. During the first carnival after the statues were installed, the one on Rampart near Armstrong Park was joyfully “defaced” with beads and a sign at the top of the outstretched steel arm that read, “Throw me somethin’, mister!”
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