Time is running out for you to get tickets to an event 150 years in the making- The Merciful Frost Victorian Banquet, the event celebrating the end of Shreveport’s 1873 Yellow Fever epidemic.

Tickets to this once-in-a- sesquicentennial banquet are available now and are extremely limited.

Menu for The Merciful Frost Dinner

In the late summer and early fall of 1873 in Shreveport, one-quarter of the population succumbed to Yellow Fever. The fever, which was carried and transmitted by mosquitos, had no cure and the only ‘treatment’ was copious bloodletting, a practice that likely only hastened the patient’s demise.

The scourge finally began to diminish as the temperatures became cooler, and by November of 1873, the epidemic, which was the third worst  in recorded U.S. history, was over. On November 18, The Times newspaper printed a complete roll of the dead.

Though a grim chapter in our history, ‘The Merciful Frost’ that brought an end to the mosquitos and the fever they carried, was celebrated. The ravage was over, and those who survived had reason to be relieved and happy. They had survived!

A Victorian dinner gathering.

To celebrate the ‘Merciful Frost’, The Shreveport DDA has partnered with The Noble Savage Shreveport to present The Merciful Frost Victorian Dinner on Sunday, November 19 from 6 pm- 9 pm. The dinner will have all the trappings of the Victorian era, and the chefs at TNS have put together an 8-course meal that would have been commonly experienced by Victorians 150 years ago.

There will be only one banquet-style seating and tickets will be very limited.  Tickets for the 8-course dinner are $75 each and The Noble Savage will also offer a per-course drink pairing for an additional $25.

Dress for a Victorian dinner and come prepared to be transported back in time. During the course of the evening, you will be entertained, you will hear the story of the ‘Merciful Frost’, you may even have the opportunity to meet some true Victorian ‘ladies’. Just watch your pockets!