Successful entrepreneur and New Orleans icon Lauren LeBlanc Haydel, better known as Fleurty Girl, announced today she wants to be the Crescent City’s next mayor, launching one of her company’s t-shirts through a City Hall window using an arena-style air cannon.
“I’m tossing, well, launching my shirt into the ring,” Haydel said amidst broken glass on Perdido Street.
Through a shattered window, a lucky city employee could be seen dancing and celebrating her catch of the shirt, which read “I Love The Fleurty South.”
Later in the afternoon, over 1,000 supporters packed the parking lot of Fleurty Girl Lakeside to listen to the local celebrity personally address the media and to give false hopes of potential sales to the strip mall’s other tenants.
Lauren “Fleurty Girl” LeBlanc Haydel makes the announcement outside of her Lakeside location that she will be running for mayor of New Orleans and plans to focus on improving community relations through new lines of special edition puntastic t-shirts designed for city employees.
In a 90-minute speech met by enthusiastic cheers and simulcast on dozens of Facebook Live feeds, the mother of five said that if elected she would ensure there is “crawfish in every pot and a sassy Fleurty Girl shirt on every back” and that she’ll “drain the swamp” as flood control is one top objective.
Supporters like Uptown resident Peter Glavin says big things are on the horizon for New Orleans with Lauren entering the race.
“She brings incredible assets to the table with perfectly well-rounded experience,” Glavin said. “I can’t wait to see her run.”
Other supporters think the job is her’s to lose.
“She (Fleurty Girl) brings incredible assets to the table with perfectly well-rounded experience. I can’t wait to see her run,” Uptown resident Peter Glavin said.
“She is about as New Orleans as it gets,” Warehouse District resident Holly McNulty said. “Then she marries into the Haydel’s Bakery family? I haven’t seen this much power and influence since Drew Brees wondered aloud if he really could get away with murder in New Orleans. She has my vote.”
The announcement, formally made via Facebook this morning and shared over 675 million times, has already been turned into a “Fleurty Girl’s Got My Back & I’ve Got Hers!” t-shirt and is on sale now at all Fleurty Girl locations for only $99.99.
While her platform is yet to be announced, Haydel did mention she will make it a point to work to increase pride and morale among government workers so the city becomes more efficient as it turns 300 years old in 2018, primarily saying she would put a new emphasis on city uniforms.
The announcement, first made via Facebook early this morning, has already been turned into a “Fleurty Girl’s got my back and I’ve got hers!” t-shirt and is on sale now at all Fleurty Girl locations for only $99.99.
According to Haydel, every city department will have their own specially designed Fleurty Girl uniform t-shirt with an adorable pun to represent who they are and what they do.
“I think we can drastically improve community relations and work ethic if all our city workers were to wear cheerful puns. We’ll have a wide variety of choices for every kind of personality. So you could say, our punny shirts,” Haydel said while slightly snorting, “will cover everyone.”
Haydel, who used her tax refund in 2009 to start her now multi-million dollar, four location and one showroom Fleurty Girl empire across southeast Louisiana, is the latest candidate to officially announce her candidacy to run in 2018’s mayoral race. If elected, she would become the city’s first-ever female mayor and the first in almost two decades to actually have hair.
“I think she’d make an excellent mayor,” Neutral Ground News political analyst Charlie Oswald said. “She’s smart, hard-working, and articulate. Best of all, she pretty much gave Roger Goodell (NFL Commissioner) the finger with the whole fight over Who Dat. God bless her.”
Lauren “Fleurty Girl” LeBlanc Haydel poses for supporters after launching her shirt in the ring for 2018 mayoral race.