Laissez les bons temps rouler
Time had gotten away from us, and we were quite soon heading out to our next destination, on Wyldwood Bayou grid, where they had held over Mardi Gras just for our delight and entertainment.
The bright colors and lively music on Wyldwood Bayou are matched perfectly by the warm welcome on the Grid. The residents and regular visitors call themselves a Tribe, and immediately here, you know it's a family of like minded creative, musical people who are quick to make any stranger a friend. Our guide was Harmony Beningborough, who explained a little about the grid, with help from the others.
Harmony Beningborough: I am Harmony and I am club manager here on Wyldwood! I'd like to introduce Wyldwood's owner, Kith (our awesome DJ for today and our RP leaders Fiteach (Fit) and Contessa (aka Tessa and Amara). The 4 of us and Maggie and Durham Redmond are Wyldwood Bayou's Admin team! There are freebies up here to your right by the stage!!
Nara Nook: I so need some Cajun spirit today :)
Kith Whitehawk: We got it for ya Nara!!!
Nara Nook: I'm soaking it up
Xaria Aubrey: sorry if my tail feathers smack anyone around ;)
Lifted Pixel: yeah i clicked the freebies and they're finally showed up! Slapping all this stuff on, gunna be surprised when it loads lol
Wizardoz Chrome: I had an incredible desire to dance :) Finally!
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| Lifted and Wizardoz |
There was some lag, I can't lie, and we got this great effect of Lucy dancing by herself, and we were just all having a lovely time, camming around the region, and glad to be in such happy company, it was pure joy.
The New Orleans townscape is astonishing, with breathtaking attention to detail. Cam or go inside all the shops and houses, visit the Asylum, the river boat, pose on the balconies and do it all with the most amazingly appropriate soundtrack - good music played well!
Harmony Beningborough: Wyldwood Bayou was created by Kira Wyldfire (Whitehawk) in Inworldz in 2011. It is a region based on New Orleans, Louisiana, and although Kira was never able to visit NOLA, she fell in love with the "Big Easy" and wanted to spend her virtual life there, sharing the blues music that she loved so much. When IW closed, she brought Wyldwood Bayou and her venues.... along with staff and many "Blues Tribe" members to open sim! Kira passed away a short time later and her partner, Kith, along with staff and friends, kept the venues going and in 2020, we moved to our own grid which we affectionately call "Our own dayum swamp"!
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| Harmony Beningborough |
Kith Whitehawk: yessaahhh!!
Harmony Beningborough: Wyldwood Bayou grid is now home to the venues Rockin' the Blues, Hot Daddy's Dance Dock, The Bayou Belle and Lady Blue with some special event venues and two awesome Medi/Fantasy roleplay groups, Brigantia and Ravenquest!
Nebby Newman: awesome!!
Kith Whitehawk: Every part of of the region has something special in it ...lots of bits of detail... the Asylum is interesting and has RL pics
Fitheach Eun: We also have a new region called "Wyld Thangs Ride Park: where you can participate in many types of individual and group sports, attend musical events and go to the movies!! It's a great place to relax and play!
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| Rockin' The Blues |
We made our way over to the beautiful music venue called Wyldwood Bayou Rockin' The Blues.
Nara Nook: loving the music
Thirza Ember: so what was it like for you guys, when you left Inworldz? Was it a shock or did you know it was coming to an end?
Kith Whitehawk: lol well.... we had done a trial run in a grid that went down shortly after it went up so we had a small inkling. We were not really prepared for IW to go down of course...
Nebby Newman: hey, a whole 4 days notice! it's good the Kira wasn't on vacation <sigh>
Kith Whitehawk: lots of rushing around to get the important stuff. Kira had made all the important builds, so... we were fortunate in that ....
Thirza Ember: you guys managed to stay together, that's not easy when a grid disappears
Kith Whitehawk: Anyway :) was a great surprise but we were fortunate and had a lot of Tribe around us and a lot of support. Tribe is an amazing group of people. We still get folks that come in that we haven't seen in years.... is like old home week - don't care if you come in once a year or are a regular... once you Tribe, you always Tribe :)))
The focus of Wyldwood Bayou is on being a destination for dancing and roleplay, leaving drama and real world problems outside, making it an oasis for anyone looking for a relief from the stress of day to day life. There are five weekly music events, two roleplay sessions, and of course, you can visit any time to enjoy the scenery and explore the cultural history of New Orleans.
Sometimes you come across grids that, maybe out of concern for losing content, or members, or some other paranoia, are not big fans of hypergridding and the challenges and opportunities it offers. With their background on Inworldz, a closed grid, how quickly did they take to the crazy pastime of gridjumping?
Fitheach Eun: Well personally I found OS to be a wide and wonderful place and I love the hypergrid
Maggie Redmond: Agrees completely with Fit! There are so many people here willing to help with just about anything, quite unlike SL
Contessa Lacombe: I love the HG. It took me just a little while to learn to navigate, but I'd never go back! And I love that we are a Destination here at WWB!!! We are your prime HG vacation spot!!!
Amara Uloran: Please everyone....on each side of the stage is a big box It's loaded with landmarks for N'Awlins, as well as our music venues, Wyld Thangs, and the WWB Roleplay HUB!!! We hope you will all come back for many visits!
HG Addresses:
Downtown New Orleans
wyldwoodbayou.com:8002:Wyldwood Bayou N'Awlins
Music Venue 'Rockin' the Blues'
wyldwoodbayou.com:8002:Wyldwood Bayou Rockin' The Blues