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1-Year Birthday Party For Incomplete Road Construction Goes Viral And Finally Gets Authorities’ Attention
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1-Year Birthday Party For Incomplete Road Construction Goes Viral And Finally Gets Authorities’ Attention

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We all know what to do when life gives you lemons, but what do you do when it gives you roadworks? Celebrate them! Especially when they are one of those that tend to really linger on and try the nerves of the whole neighborhood. But as people in New Orleans, Louisiana go, they embrace the bizarre along with absurdity and frustration and have a good laugh at it.

A young mom, Natalie Naquin Harvey, prepared a real celebration for the one-year anniversary of a dreaded roadwork that is still in process a whole year later. As you may have guessed, the post illustrated with cheerful photos went viral on social media, eventually getting the attention of the local road repair authority. Bored Panda got in touch with Natalie to find out more about her genius idea.

More info: Facebook

Natalie Naquin Harvey baked a celebratory cake, accessorized with a party hat and balloons, and celebrated the one-year anniversary of a dreaded roadwork on her street

Image credits: Natalie Naquin Harvey

2020, for quite a few people, was not the easiest year to cope with, but the ability to reverse a struggle into something positive turned out to be Natalie’s forte. In her neighborhood’s Facebook group discussion, one of the residents mentioned the upcoming 1-year road construction anniversary the following week. So she commented: “Maybe I’ll make a cake!” and the idea took off from there.

Natalie had stumbled upon this recipe online a couple weeks before and thought that “it would be perfect to turn into my ‘street.’” The young mom, who is working as a nurse, shared that baking is one of her passions. “I love to bake, it’s a way for me to cope with stress.” And, of course, some lucky neighbors got to taste the now very famous cake. “I was able to share some cake with some of my neighbors by dropping it off at their house, since we couldn’t have a proper party because of the pandemic.”

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She baked a cake featuring the actual road construction scene on her street, complete with ‘gravel,’ machinery, and builders

Image credits: Natalie Naquin Harvey

Natalie felt that the post would have some potential before even going live with it, at least locally. “Two neighbors stopped me on the street to take my photo while I was out there trying to get my own.” She noted that the response has been great and most importantly, she achieved her goal—to bring in some humor to an annoying situation. “It made my neighbors laugh after a year of frustration, and that’s really all I wanted to do—give them a reason to chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.”

The post has received thousands of likes and shares on different media outlets as well as a ton of comments

Image credits: Natalie Naquin Harvey

The post has received thousands of likes and shares on different media outlets as well as a ton of comments. ”I expected that people around New Orleans would think the post was funny, but did not expect it to be this popular across the country and world. Frustration with construction is truly universal.”

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As Natalie is glad to have succeeded to make people giggle after the year we all have had, the post also got the attention of the local road work repair authority, which realized that the ongoing construction has overstayed its welcome. They have responded on the Instagram page that documents the shocking condition of the cracked and sinking streets of New Orleans. Shortly after, the residents of the neighborhood received a letter with the timeline of the project’s completion.

Here is the response from New Orleans local roadwork repair authority after seeing Natalie’s post on Instagram

Image credits: roadworknola

“New Orleanians tend to deal with frustration and absurdity in creative ways, and by celebrating”

Image credits: Natalie Naquin Harvey

“New Orleanians tend to deal with frustration and absurdity in creative ways, and by celebrating,” Natalie shared her take on the situation. And it seems that this lighthearted (and somewhat passive-aggressive) approach to a frustrating matter can be fruitful, as long as it’s in high spirits with a strong sense of humor.

And here are some opinions that people online have expressed about this humorously ironic photoshoot

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Irmante Sungailaite

Irmante Sungailaite

Author, Community member

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After graduating Media and Photography in the United Kingdom, Irmante got drawn into the captivating world of travelling and spent most of the years on the road discovering cultures, learning languages and meeting the most fascinating people. If not writing articles for Bored Panda readers she can be found listening to jazz in Ethiopia, sipping flat whites in Australia or trekking Guatemalan jungles. Her likes include films by Wes Anderson, pseudoscientific practices and being obsessed with everything Mexico and Central America. Her friends mainly describe her as inquisitive, adventurous, and caring.

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Irmante Sungailaite

Irmante Sungailaite

Author, Community member

After graduating Media and Photography in the United Kingdom, Irmante got drawn into the captivating world of travelling and spent most of the years on the road discovering cultures, learning languages and meeting the most fascinating people. If not writing articles for Bored Panda readers she can be found listening to jazz in Ethiopia, sipping flat whites in Australia or trekking Guatemalan jungles. Her likes include films by Wes Anderson, pseudoscientific practices and being obsessed with everything Mexico and Central America. Her friends mainly describe her as inquisitive, adventurous, and caring.

Lukas Garnelis

Lukas Garnelis

Author, Community member

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

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Lukas Garnelis

Lukas Garnelis

Author, Community member

Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

Hey pandas, what do you think?
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teestet avatar
syczek
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The second anniversary of the broken escalator in Katowice (Poland). Residents organized parties at the train station :) kat-605b7c...47c6ba.jpg kat-605b7c447c6ba.jpg

rhemore1 avatar
Suzanne Haigh
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These people are talking about their own countries, which may not be as affluent as the USA, or the people taxed to the extent. I fully understand her, we have a little bridge near us, fell down over a year ago and was dangerous, I tripped and fell over the rubble. Within 24 hours the rubble was cleared and a orange plastic barrier put up, still there will be 1 year 8th June. Perhaps if I had made a fuss or put in a claim it would have been repaired by now.

balbicky avatar
Milan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh c'mon :D Here in Slovakia we building a 500km freeway for over 40 years, and still missing 150km. The result of bad bad politics and big corrupction during construction...

stephenagans avatar
stephen agans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Birthday parties are fun, but did you go to sinkhole de Mayo? Now THAT was a pothole party! Not even kidding, some people had a taco party on May 5th for their pothole in mid city a few years back.

mjw0sysascend_com avatar
lara
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I 35 which goes north from both Ft. Worth and Dallas to Denton was under construction so long that the children, both sons and daughters, of men who began work on it , got jobs working on the highway.

johnc_1 avatar
John C
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think many of those 'opinions' below the article miss the point that this is a residential street, right in front of her house. I'm in Chicago so I'm for sure used to construction (has 294 ever gone 6 months without getting ripped up?) but if it were the street I lived on, it'd be a different story.

norartnorart avatar
Norart
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Louisiana and NO in particular have a long standing reputation for corruption in public offices. This might have something to do with it?

mriche avatar
Memere
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I drove my Jeep in New Orleans once - it felt like I was off-roading in the Rocky Mountains! And that wasn't even on streets under construction. All these people commenting about how "it's worse in my country" need to understand that New Orleans was built on a SWAMP - they literally cannot have basements, or bury their dead in the ground! The fact that this project has been going on for a year is shameful, but this is the city that left two bodies in the rubble of the Hard Rock Hotel project that collapsed several years ago. There's a ton of corruption in the Big Easy!

mriche avatar
Memere
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Updating to add that the hotel collapse happened in October of 2019, and the bodies of two of the men who died were left there for 10 months - the city finally recovered them in August of 2020. They've finally started tearing down the collapsed building, but as of now, it's still mostly there, with the streets around it still blocked off.

Load More Replies...
mikesimmons avatar
Mike Simmons
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The cake needs more people standing around watching one person work.

nymphmare8 avatar
Ezigma
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Semi off topic; I used to have a friend who lived at an apartment complex in Florida where the outside AC unit went and they kept saying they've been working on it. So they put a note that read, "Thanks for the hard work! You earned this!" And a $10 bill in a zip lock bag and taped it to the unit. 3 weeks later they were saying the same thing and they went out there, it was still there!

fuyu avatar
fu yu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kudos for Natalie! Road work that is actually getting worse without any updates it totally unacceptable.

bronmargaret avatar
Magpie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not fair. Covid has interrupted *everything* Workers may well have been sick some may have died. Workers may have had family die. This is workers all along the supply chain as well as for making the repairs. Some areas are doing sensible things to reduce spread, such as reducing the number of workers at each site. This means the stuff needed to do the work may not arrive or turn up months later.

wickedlxy36 avatar
Physo
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pffft, thats nothing compared to the 2 YEARS of parking work at this apartment complex, still not done.

marcangelinaalcober avatar
MarcAngelina Alcober
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

rich people problems... if life were only as simple as construction outside your house... could be a lot worse.

amcgregor7419 avatar
Al Jones
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You're not wrong but I think statements like that don't really mean anything. Imagine someone has a serious accident with life changing injuries. Is that person not allowed to complain because someone else died in an accident? True, this is on a different scale to the post but my point is, things could ALWAYS be worse. It's okay to have a moan occasionally.

Load More Replies...
teestet avatar
syczek
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The second anniversary of the broken escalator in Katowice (Poland). Residents organized parties at the train station :) kat-605b7c...47c6ba.jpg kat-605b7c447c6ba.jpg

rhemore1 avatar
Suzanne Haigh
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These people are talking about their own countries, which may not be as affluent as the USA, or the people taxed to the extent. I fully understand her, we have a little bridge near us, fell down over a year ago and was dangerous, I tripped and fell over the rubble. Within 24 hours the rubble was cleared and a orange plastic barrier put up, still there will be 1 year 8th June. Perhaps if I had made a fuss or put in a claim it would have been repaired by now.

balbicky avatar
Milan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh c'mon :D Here in Slovakia we building a 500km freeway for over 40 years, and still missing 150km. The result of bad bad politics and big corrupction during construction...

stephenagans avatar
stephen agans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Birthday parties are fun, but did you go to sinkhole de Mayo? Now THAT was a pothole party! Not even kidding, some people had a taco party on May 5th for their pothole in mid city a few years back.

mjw0sysascend_com avatar
lara
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I 35 which goes north from both Ft. Worth and Dallas to Denton was under construction so long that the children, both sons and daughters, of men who began work on it , got jobs working on the highway.

johnc_1 avatar
John C
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think many of those 'opinions' below the article miss the point that this is a residential street, right in front of her house. I'm in Chicago so I'm for sure used to construction (has 294 ever gone 6 months without getting ripped up?) but if it were the street I lived on, it'd be a different story.

norartnorart avatar
Norart
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Louisiana and NO in particular have a long standing reputation for corruption in public offices. This might have something to do with it?

mriche avatar
Memere
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I drove my Jeep in New Orleans once - it felt like I was off-roading in the Rocky Mountains! And that wasn't even on streets under construction. All these people commenting about how "it's worse in my country" need to understand that New Orleans was built on a SWAMP - they literally cannot have basements, or bury their dead in the ground! The fact that this project has been going on for a year is shameful, but this is the city that left two bodies in the rubble of the Hard Rock Hotel project that collapsed several years ago. There's a ton of corruption in the Big Easy!

mriche avatar
Memere
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Updating to add that the hotel collapse happened in October of 2019, and the bodies of two of the men who died were left there for 10 months - the city finally recovered them in August of 2020. They've finally started tearing down the collapsed building, but as of now, it's still mostly there, with the streets around it still blocked off.

Load More Replies...
mikesimmons avatar
Mike Simmons
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The cake needs more people standing around watching one person work.

nymphmare8 avatar
Ezigma
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Semi off topic; I used to have a friend who lived at an apartment complex in Florida where the outside AC unit went and they kept saying they've been working on it. So they put a note that read, "Thanks for the hard work! You earned this!" And a $10 bill in a zip lock bag and taped it to the unit. 3 weeks later they were saying the same thing and they went out there, it was still there!

fuyu avatar
fu yu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kudos for Natalie! Road work that is actually getting worse without any updates it totally unacceptable.

bronmargaret avatar
Magpie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not fair. Covid has interrupted *everything* Workers may well have been sick some may have died. Workers may have had family die. This is workers all along the supply chain as well as for making the repairs. Some areas are doing sensible things to reduce spread, such as reducing the number of workers at each site. This means the stuff needed to do the work may not arrive or turn up months later.

wickedlxy36 avatar
Physo
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pffft, thats nothing compared to the 2 YEARS of parking work at this apartment complex, still not done.

marcangelinaalcober avatar
MarcAngelina Alcober
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

rich people problems... if life were only as simple as construction outside your house... could be a lot worse.

amcgregor7419 avatar
Al Jones
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You're not wrong but I think statements like that don't really mean anything. Imagine someone has a serious accident with life changing injuries. Is that person not allowed to complain because someone else died in an accident? True, this is on a different scale to the post but my point is, things could ALWAYS be worse. It's okay to have a moan occasionally.

Load More Replies...
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