East Washington Street will be renamed in honor of Lorri Burgess

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The City of Baton Rouge is honoring the first female African American Mayor Pro-tempore, Lorri Burgess.

East Washington Street, which runs between Highland Road and Dalrymple Drive underneath I-10 in south Baton Rouge, will be renamed to Lorri Burgess Avenue, thanks to a unanimous vote by the East Baton Rouge Metro Council.

Burgess was elected to the council in 1997. She represented District 10, where she lived and dedicated most of her time. She served a total of 12 years on the Metropolitan Council. She also served as Chief Operating Officer for the Sickle Cell Association of South Louisiana.

In honor of the legacy Lorri Burgess leaves behind, a public unveiling of the new street sign will take place on Saturday, Jan. 21 starting at 10 a.m.

A block party will follow until 2 p.m. at the Leo S. Butler Community Center located at 950 E. Washington Street.

The event is free and open to the public.

Organizers say there will be food, drinks, entertainment, a spacewalk, games, face painting, and more.

Lorri passed away in January 2020 after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 56.

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