[StBernard] Katrina-Ravaged Chalmette Is Setting For 'The Colony'

[Westley Annis]

Katrina-Ravaged Chalmette Is Setting For 'The Colony'
Discovery Channel Reality Show Filmed In St. Bernard Parish

POSTED: 10:39 am CDT July 28, 2010
UPDATED: 11:23 am CDT July 28, 2010

CHALMETTE, La. -- A new Discovery Channel show puts Chalmette in the
spotlight, although you're not supposed to know that the St. Bernard Parish
community is where "The Colony" takes place.

The Village Square area was attractive to the show's producers because it
was a natural disaster area left in ruins after Hurricane Katrina. For the
cast of "The Colony," a reality show about surviving in a post-apocalyptic
environment, it was home for 50 days of filming.

The show isn't about competition, but survival, billed as a series that
shows how far a group of strangers will push themselves to rebuild after a
biological disaster.

"The colonists will seek to answer one question: If society fell apart,
would you?" the show's promotions say.


The show is a controlled experiment that places volunteers -- hypothetical
survivors of a massive viral outbreak -- in an environment without
electricity, running water or outside communication for 50 days.

The Village Square area in Chalmette was set to be demolished anyway, so St.
Bernard Parish officials used the opportunity to host "The Colony" to their
advantage.

"It went well," Parish President Craig Taffaro said. "The production crew
and the production company were extremely thrilled with how things went in
St. Bernard. It bodes well for us. The industry knows we are a film
industry-friendly community."

Taffaro said about 70 locals were hired for the production, and the crew
spent money in the community. In all, the anticipated economic impact for
St. Bernard Parish is in the neighborhood of $5 million.

"It didn't hurt to have (a) local economy boost in the process," Taffaro
said.

Now that filming has ended, the process of revamping Village Square has
begun. Most of the abandoned apartment buildings used during the filming are
gone, and a new green space is not far away.

"We just recently received a grant for a master plan -- a comprehensive
master plan -- and that would be part of the process of identifying
specifically how to best use that green space," Taffaro said.

"The Colony" airs Tuesday nights on the Discovery Channel.