You don’t really interview Gerard Landry so much as you sit down with him and see where the conversation goes.
It was morning, coffee was on the table, and the clock was largely ignored. One story led to another. Denham Springs came up, then grocery stores, then old houses, then family, then right back to Denham Springs again. That seems to be how Gerard’s mind works, everything loops back to home.
He talks easily, sometimes circling, sometimes landing squarely on the point without warning. He laughs at himself.
He shrugs off titles. He prefers to be called Gerard, and he means it. The same Gerard who spent decades running grocery stores, who still believes deeply in customer service, and who thinks returning phone calls is not optional.
Gerard came to Denham Springs more than forty years ago for work but stayed because it felt right. Long before he lived here, he spent time here: football games, spending time with family, wandering around town without anyone knowing his name. That mattered to him. He talks about Denham Springs the way people talk about places that slowly become theirs, layered over time with routines, relationships, and memories.
Family is never far from the conversation. Between him and his wife, Marian, they raised seven children. Today there are thirteen grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, spread across Louisiana and beyond, but still tethered to home. He talks about his happy marriage to his “Bride” as he calls his lovely wife, and about how time changes what you value. “You start to understand what really matters,” he said more than once.
Somewhere between stories, the conversation naturally turns to the work; not in bullet points, but in passing, the way people talk about things they’ve lived through.
He talks about the flood of 2016, when Denham Springs was devastated overnight. About how recovery could not just be reactionary, but intentional. That thinking became DenhamStrong, a long-term recovery and resilience plan rooted in listening to residents and mapping out what the city needed; not just immediately, but years down the road.
What began as a local response has since been shared with other communities navigating disaster recovery, something Gerard mentions not with pride, but with practicality. “If it helps somebody else,” he said, “then it’s worth sharing.”
Old City Hall comes up next; how walking into a city-owned building in disarray didn’t sit right with him. How restoring it wasn’t about nostalgia, but about respect for the city’s history and presenting Denham Springs with care. Today, the space reflects that mindset: thoughtful, intentional, and grounded in place.
The idea for Christmas in the Village began with Gerard and his wife, Marian, who recognized a need to better organize and unify the many holiday traditions already taking place downtown. What started as a conversation at home became a framework for bringing those events together under one recognizable season, allowing the community, businesses, and organizers to work in step rather than in silos. From there, the vision expanded through collaboration, becoming the Christmas in the Village Denham Springs knows today..
At some point, the conversation drifts back to houses. Gerard loves old ones; the hardwood floors, the quirks, the history you can’t replicate. He and his wife have bought, lived in, and restored multiple homes inside city limits, never as flip-and-forget projects, but as places to live. New construction, he says, has its place…but charm must be earned.
Denham Springs, in his eyes, has plenty of it. He calls it “the best 7.5 square miles on the planet,” not because it’s perfect, but because it’s personal. Growth brings challenges, yes, but also opportunity. What matters most, he believes, is having a vision and putting the right people together to move forward.
Before the morning wrapped up, Gerard summed it up simply: people should be proud of Denham Springs. Proud of where it’s been. Proud of where it’s going. Proud enough to take care of it.
And after sitting with him awhile, it’s easy to understand why he does.
