Hammond was buzzing with excitement, chatter and entertainment downtown for Hot August Night on Friday, Aug. 16.  The Downtown Development District rallied many businesses to show off their best and serve wine for the wine tasting, a highlight of the night according to Terry Lynn Smith, Executive Director of the DDD.
“This is the most popular event and allows the merchants to open their doors to customers, friends and family,” said Smith.  “Hot August Night is a signature event of the Downtown Development.”
Many simply walked the streets soaking in the lively evening while others perused the area’s many shops, which kept their doors open late.
Paul Todd, a recent Southeastern graduate enjoying the night, stopped in at Painting With A Twist to taste wine and appreciate the work.
“I like the artwork, particularly at the Regional Art Center over there, and the wine. For the most part, we are just starting our serious rounds,” said Todd.  “We got to see some of the bands. Lauren Carroll Photography was the first place we stopped at. If anyone needs wedding photography please stop in.”
Music was performed at various locations including the Columbia Theatre.  Also, several owners promoted their businesses by setting up a table near the middle of downtown.  
One of these people included Karen Workman, a jewelry maker who sells her work at the Hammond flea market on the second and fourth Saturday of every month. Workman titled her small business “Roses and Jewelry by Kay.”
“I do this on the side,” said Workman.  “I’ve been making this stuff for years, but I’ve been ill, and I haven’t been able to get out and sell it, so I just started getting out to sell it, and I love doing it. I started with my roses and moved into my jewelry. I may have told you, but I was in a wheelchair for nine weeks.”
Workman tells how she was always a creator and found love in creating roses and jewelry.  
“I’m still learning every day and come up with some new things,” said Workman.  “I put my own into it. It’s so wonderful to be able to create that way.  I’ve always had to be a creator.”
“I used to be a dancer,” explained Workman about her growing creativity in her youth.  “My brother and I danced as a team.  I even got to dance at LSU’s halftime shows.  And then I started teaching, and I would do my own choreography, and all the teachers would ask, ‘Where’d you get that routine from?’ and I would say, ‘I made it up.'”
Workman explained that she was ill for a while, which held her back until now from selling her creations, but not from making them.
“I started making about six years ago, but I haven’t been selling until recently since I’ve been so ill and I’ve had a lot of surgeries,” said Workman. “It was God’s will, and without Him I wouldn’t be here today. He carries me through everything, and He’s with me when I make my roses and my jewelry. He’s always with me. He’s a great partner.”
Workman learned the basics of wire wrapping stones, which she would turn into a necklace or earrings, from DVD’s.  
She would find natural stones and then wire wrap them into something new.
“You have to take the wire, wrap it around, place it just right, and you don’t know how the wires just want to jump out of your hand,” said Workman about the process. She explained further how it can take from three hours to half a day depending on the piece.
Workman recently began making LSU creations and will be making Southeastern jewelry to be sold at future flea markets.
“Hot August Nights helps getting me known, and I make some sales,” said Workman.  “People aren’t used to wire wrapping.  It’s not something you find a lot of people down here doing yet, so they are at awe at some of the things I wrap. I really enjoy doing it.”