The Arts

The Downtown Gallery Crawl
The Downtown Gallery Crawl, sponsored by the non-profit Downtown Arts Alliance, shows new fine art from local, regional, and national artists six times a year. The Crawl is free and open to the public and strives to give exposure to and education about fine art in downtown Monroe and West Monroe.

Herons on the Bayou
Herons on the Bayou is a public art project connecting talented artists with the local community. Fifty heron sculptures are spread out throughout Ouachita Parish, and each one has it's own unique, beautiful design.

Masur Museum of Art
The Masur Museum of Art is the largest collecting and exhibiting visual arts museum in Northeast Louisiana. The Masur offers educational programs for children and adults. Admission to the museum is always free.

Monroe Symphony Orchestra
For over forty years, the Monroe Symphony Orchestra has provided live, symphonic music of high artistic quality for the education and enjoyment of the people of Northeast Louisiana.

Northeast Louisiana Arts Council
The Northeast Louisiana Arts Council strives to be a transformative force for the community by encouraging a passion for the arts, promoting partnerships and collaboration, and ensuring access to the arts for all. The Arts Council works directly with local artists and provides grant opportunities to artists and arts organizations.

Strauss Theatre Center
Strauss Theatre is Ouachita’s community theatre. The theatre produces plays, musicals, and live performing arts.

Strauss Youth Academy for the Arts
Strauss Youth Academy for the Arts is a non-profit youth theatre providing theatre arts education for youth, ages 5-18.

Twin City Ballet
Twin City Ballet Company is chartered by the State of Louisiana as a non-profit organization to enrich the cultural environment of northeast Louisiana and the surrounding areas.

Louisiana Delta Ballet
Louisiana Delta Ballet’s goal is to bring quality ballet to North Louisiana in order to educate our young people in arts enjoyment and appreciation as well as to enthuse the community at large in the passion of ballet.

ULM Visual and Performing Arts
The School of Visual and Performing Arts provides cultural activities, special events and performances for university and area communities.

Community Centers

Monroe Community Centers
West Monroe Community Center
  • The Rec at 7th Street Square
    The Rec is a sports center with something for everyone. There are a variety of programs offered including: adult basketball, adult flag football, adult indoor volleyball, adult slow-pitch softball, and youth basketball.
  • West Monroe Community Center
    The West Monroe Community Center promotes educational and healthy recreational activities for the surrounding neighborhoods. Children are offered after school programming and tutoring with AmeriCorps mentors and Center staff.

Community Recycling

West Monroe Recycling Center
The West Monroe Recycling Center is a free drop-off facility for the public, including those who do not live in West Monroe. The facility is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 7 am to 5 pm. Accepted items include: Plastics No. 1 and No. 2, cardboard, paper (newspaper and copy paper), aluminum, and metal cans. The Recycling Center asks that all cans and plastic jugs are rinsed before drop-off.

Convention & Expo Centers

Ike Hamilton Expo Center
The Ike Hamilton Expo Center, or “The Ike”, as it has come to be called, is located in West Monroe. It hosts a variety of events including western equestrian events, livestock shows and sales, bike and remote-control car races, and trade shows.

Monroe Civic Center
The Monroe Civic Center includes an arena, convention center, conference halls, and a theater. It hosts a variety of events through the year, including the Ark-La-Miss Fair, plays, ballets, symphony events, and concerts.

West Monroe Convention Center
This convention center, located in West Monroe, is available to rent for private events. It also hosts public events such as PokéCon, wedding planning event, and arts and crafts shows.

Eat & Shop

Discover Monroe-West Monroe
This site, maintained by the Monroe - West Monroe Convention and Visitors' Bureau, shares things to do, places to eat, where to shop, and places to discover in Oauchita Parish.

Downtown West Monroe
Downtown West Monroe, commonly known as Antique Alley, is bustling with boutiques and antique shops. A wide variety of shops can be found offering everything from the latest fashions, investment antiques, original works of art, and fine gifts.

Monroe Farmer's Market
The Monroe Farmer’s Market features seasonal produce like tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and more from local growers. It is held June through August from 7 am until noon on Monday through Saturday.

West Monroe Farmer's Market
Market on the Square is held on various Saturdays seasonally, which includes merchandise vendors, produce vendors, food vendors/trucks, entertainment, car shows, and much more.

Get Outside

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Throughout the year, events are scheduled at the Refuge, and the public is invited to visit any time. The Refuge has a Conservation Learning Center that provides live native wildlife exhibits and a well-equipped classroom. The Refuge features a pier, an observation desk for birdwatching, nature trails, an arboretum, and interactive displays inside the Visitors’ Center. ​

Cheniere Lake Park
Cheniere Lake, pronounced “Shenny”, is the largest lake in Ouachita Parish. It includes places to fish, hunt, and picnic, as well as an RV park, lodge, and playground.

Herons on the Bayou
Herons on the Bayou is a public art project connecting talented artists with the local community. Fifty heron sculptures are spread out throughout Ouachita Parish, and each one has it's own unique, beautiful design.

Louisiana Purchase Gardens & Zoo
Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo is an 80 acre zoological park that exhibits over 500 animals. In addition to animal exhibits, the zoo has a petting zoo, a train ride, and a splash pad.

Monroe City Public Golf Courses
  • Chennault Park Golf Course
    Chennault Park Golf Course is an 18-hole public golf course located just minutes off of Interstate 20 and about 5 minutes from Monroe Regional Airport.
  • Forsythe Park Golf Course
    Forsythe Park Golf Course, also known as MUNY, is located within the Garden District at Forsythe Park in Monroe, Louisiana. This 9-hole course features a driving range, a practice green, electric and pull cart rental, beverage and snack sales. Your PGA Golf Professional also offers clinics and lessons to all ages.

Museums

Biedenharn Museum & Gardens
The Biedenharn Museum & Gardens is a museum complex that features regularly scheduled exhibits and a multitude of events. It is composed of a historic home filled with antiques and artifacts, formal English gardens, a Coca-Cola Museum, a Bible Museum, and museum store.

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Throughout the year, events are scheduled at the Refuge, and the public is invited to visit any time. The Refuge has a Conservation Learning Center that provides live native wildlife exhibits and a well-equipped classroom. The Refuge features a pier, an observation desk for birdwatching, nature trails, an arboretum, and interactive displays inside the Visitors’ Center. ​

Chennault Aviation & Military Museum
The Museum honors veterans and soldiers from WWI through Iraqi Freedom. Through expansive collections of artifacts and compelling stories of the men and women who have served our country. The Museum is housed in the last remaining classrooms of the Selman Field Navigation School, the largest navigation school in the U.S. during WWII. The Museum offers bi-monthly PTSD clinics for combat veterans and STEAM-based scavenger hunts. The Museum is partnered with the Library of Congress in their veterans’ Oral History Programs.

The Downtown Gallery Crawl
The Downtown Gallery Crawl, sponsored by the non-profit Downtown Arts Alliance, shows new fine art from local, regional, and national artists six times a year. The Crawl is free and open to the public and strives to give exposure to and education about fine art in downtown Monroe and West Monroe.

Masur Museum of Art
The Masur Museum of Art is the largest collecting and exhibiting visual arts museum in Northeast Louisiana. The Masur offers educational programs for children and adults. Admission to the museum is always free.

Northeast Louisiana Children’s Museum
The Children’s Museum is a learning opportunity for kids. Permanent exhibits include the Firehouse, a replica with a sliding pole; Health Hall, where kids can be a paramedic; Toddlertown, an area for kids under 4; Kids’ Café, where kids can pretend to be a server, cashier, or chef; Bubbleworks, where kids can make a giant bubble; and The Big Mouth, walk in and explore. Traveling exhibits from across the U.S. are featured throughout the year.

Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage Museum
The African American Museum houses a collection of African American art, culture, and history in an architecturally interesting building. Exhibits feature local and regional African American artists and an array of artifacts from Northeast Louisiana. The Museum has an archival section featuring local African American leaders, their history and contributions.

Precious Legacy Museum and Archive at Temple B’nai Israel
The Precious Legacy Museum features contributions of the Jewish communities of Northeast Louisiana and gives an overview of Jewish history, traditions and holidays.

ULM Museum of Natural History
The Museum of Natural History showcases displays of zoological specimens, plant specimens, and geoscience exhibits from around the world, with an emphasis on Louisiana and the surrounding region. With 6 million fish specimens, it is the largest freshwater fish collection in the US. The Museum also has a half a million plant specimens, a large collection of Native American artifacts, dinosaur bones and replicas, and geological specimens.

Parks

Monroe City Parks
  • Mt. Nebo Playground Park, 3013 Jackson Street
  • Anita Lane Park, 2703 Anita Lane
  • Hawthorne Street Park, 2302 Hawthorne Street
  • Myrtle Street Park, 2309 Hawthorne Street
  • Jasmine Street/Civic Street Park, 1304 Civic Street
  • Triangle/Stuart Park, 1900 Pargoud Boulevard
  • Lida Benton Playground, 3317 Lee Avenue
  • Anna Grey Noe Park, 251 Oak Street
  • Henry Bry Park, 110 DeSiard Street
  • River Oaks Neighborhood Park, 3704 Barbados Boulevard
  • Sherrouse Neighborhood Park, 4300 Harrison Street
  • Forsythe Point Recreation Area, 2201 Riverside Drive
  • Forsythe Park, 2300 Sycamore Street: This park has wooden bleachers, a bandstand, a walking track, two ballfields, climbing units, swings, and picnic tables. The park also features a tennis complex, tennis pro-shop, and the MUNY golf course.
  • Jesse Williams Park, 303 Marx Street
  • Lamyville/Magnolia Park, 2600 Olive Street
  • Charles Johnson Park, 3313 Bernstein Park Drive: Formerly “Bernstein Park”, this park has walking trails, a basketball court, swings, a picnic area, playscapes, park benches, metal pavilions, and exercise stations.
  • Orange Street Park, 1601 Orange Street
West Monroe City Parks
  • Kiroli Park
    Kiroli Park offers 150 acres of nature's beauty. Within park there are several playgrounds, a unique conservatory, Raising Cane's Dog Park, tennis courts, numerous gardens, picnic areas, fishing ponds and hiking trails. Most of park is wooded and accessible through paved streets and trails that hold surprises like a suspension bridge, covered bridge, observation tower, and elevated walkways.
  • Lazarre Park
    Lazarre features a boat launch, two 18-hole disc golf courses, and a covered pavilion.
  • Restoration Park
    Restoration Park features a one-mile walking trail loop around wetlands.