News Release
Indigenous Environmental Network
Sicangu Lakota Anne White Hat, the new owner of the Maypop Community Herb Shop, a small business in the Bywater area specializing in medicinal herbs, culinary spices, and handmade herbal products, announced she has bought the business after 10 years in operation from Rachael Reeves and Jen Stovall. The three celebrated the transition for the Winter Solstice on Dec. 19 outside the shop at 2701 Saint Claude Avenue in New Orleans, with the community, ceremony, cake and herbal beverages.
White Hat is a Sicangu Lakota woman, member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and looks forward to nurturing the strong foundation the shop was built on, as well as expanding its reach and scope, especially to Indigenous communities within and beyond New Orleans and Louisiana. White Hat will become one of very few Indigenous women to own an herb shop nationwide at present.
“I’ve lived in Bulbancha for 11 years and I’m excited at this opportunity and look forward to continuing operations at the Shop, while expanding our reach and services in the new year,” says White Hat.
White Hat was one of the lead Indigenous matriarchs at the Bayou Bridge resistance camp in Indian Bayou, Louisiana, L’eau Est La Vie, and has served as an herbalist at Standing Rock. White Hat is one of the lead plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of Louisiana’s anti-protest law in federal court. A judge ruled on May 6, 2021 allowing the case to proceed.
Maypop is dedicated to serving as a community resource for plant knowledge, remedies, healing, and social change in the city of New Orleans. It provides affordable access to medicinal herbs, herbal products, and herbal knowledge, and offers education and consultations. Maypop operates six days a week and offers both in-person and online shopping.
Since 2011, Reeves and Stovall, both trained herbalists with over 20 years of experience, cultivated the shop as a community resource and healing space. They decided to sell the shop to pursue new projects and have been intentional to find a new owner who will ensure that the mission of Maypop continues. “We are so grateful that Anne is purchasing the shop. She’s an experienced medicine maker with a deep connection to the plants and this land. We are especially excited that she is interested in continuing to support community health, which has always been the primary mission of the shop,” they stated.
