Against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina’s fifth anniversary, Peter Mayer PR coordinated a special media preview on Saturday, August 28, for the upcoming exhibit, Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond, opening at the Louisiana State Museum on October 26. Best-selling author and historian Douglas Brinkley was the event’s keynote speaker, and he was joined by the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas; James Beard Award-Winning Chef Scott Boswell; Beacon of Hope Resource Center Founder Denise Thornton; first responder Ken Bellau (a resident who saved more than 400 people); and Louisiana State Museum Director Sam Rykels. Formal remarks were followed by a walk-through of the 6,700-square-foot exhibit space where curators presented and discussed numerous artifacts that will be on display.

Five years in the making, the new $7.5 million installation will be the largest hurricane exhibit in the world. This one-of-a-kind installation, much of it built from Katrina-ruined salvage, includes a re-creation of a flooded attic from which a family escaped and the axe they used to chop their way out; interactive displays on the science of levee failure, coastal erosion, and sea level rise; and as a centerpiece, music legend Fats Domino’s Steinway piano, salvaged from his flooded Lower 9th Ward home and displayed as it was found.

Peter Mayer helped secure local, national and international media coverage for the event, which coincided with the Katrina anniversary. ABC News and ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff attended the event, as did FOX News Channel, and CNN ran a series of five stories over the anniversary weekend that generated 2 million impressions and $200,000 in PR value. Local NBC affiliate WDSU-TV also produced a significant package from the event. For photos of the media preview, click here.