USS KIDD Veterans Museum

10/18/2026

Our annual fundraising gala: food, fun, laughter, dancing, honoring our past, planning for our future, .... Did we mention food???

In keeping with the most-asked question of 2024, 2025, and 2026 for three years running, our theme this year was "Where's the KIDD?" Attendees were encouraged to dress up as their favorite detective. Some of the characters our guests came as included Ace Ventura, Jessica Jones, Sherlock Holmes, Agent Carter, Adrian Monk, Spike Spiegel, Nancy Drew, Scotland Yard, Lara Croft, Nathan Drake, and more!

Our Master of Ceremonies, Mr. John Spain, played a little trivia game with everyone with questions related to the KIDD. Correct answers allowed that table to be next in line for chow. Wrong answers made that table wait for a bit more.

Congratulations to The Honorable Jay Dardenne, former Lieutenant Governor and our 2026 Patriot of the Year Award recipient. Thanks to all of our event planners, staff, and volunteers; our sponsors; Chef John Folse and the White Oak staff; and everyone who made this sold-out event such a success.

10/18/2026

10/16/2026

(9/25/2026 & 10/09/2026) - We've been slacking (busy), we're behind on our posts, and we apologize. So, let's bring you up to date on our volunteers.

The missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were back on paint scraping duty two out of the past three weeks on the P-40 Courtyard staircase. Since transfers were occurring on October 01, we held a pizza party for them on the 25th in case anyone left. A good thing, too, because only Sister Bentley (seen here in orange) remained after the transfers! She was joined by some new faces on the 9th. After renewed scraping, the new missionaries got the chance to explore the museum and see some of the exhibits they are helping to keep alive and open with their volunteer work. The pirate display is always popular with them!

If you'd like to volunteer with the USS KIDD Veterans Museum you can send an inquiry to [email protected] for more information.

There's still a need for funding to finish restoration of equipment not being restored by the shipyard, and to keep the lights on back home at the museum. Let's make KIDD better than the bare minimum! Visit our website to donate!

The USS KIDD Veterans Museum is a non-funded state agency that receives no regular state or federal funding. We appreciate your support!

10/12/2026

INCOMING!!! KIDD may be out of drydock, but that doesn't mean restoration is over. Tune in and find out and how our latest acquisitions tie into it.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 @ 7:00 p.m. Central Time

LINK IN THE FIRST COMMENT

10/08/2026

In episode 11 of our series Talking Ship, don't abandon ship just yet! Today we'll be delving deep into the origins of the phrase "on beam ends".

10/07/2026

This October, get into the Halloween spirit with our book club! We'll be reading Richard Zacks' book "The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd". Join our Patreon to catch our livestreamed book club meeting at the end of the month!
patreon.com/usskidd661

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10/05/2026

Talk about !

That’s a wrap on the of the walkway between the levee and the museum, including the observation tower. Lanehart Inc. (), under the direction of LEMOINE (), made a 44-year-old structure look like brand new construction. Not only does it make the museum campus look fabulous, but it improves the appearance of the downtown Baton Rouge riverfront along with it!

Our thanks to LEMOINE for their generosity in partnering with us and funding all of the labor for this project to make the museum . Thanks also to Pittsburgh Paints () who discounted the paint for this shoreside project and to the Louisiana Veterans Museum Foundation for funding the paint purchase. We look forward to partnering with these teams again in the future.

Want to join in the efforts? Contact [email protected] to see how you can help via or or .

There's still a need for funding to finish restoration of equipment not being restored by the shipyard, and to keep the lights on back home at the museum. Let's make KIDD better than the bare minimum!

Click here to donate to the USS KIDD: https://www.usskidd.com/product/donations/

The USS KIDD Veterans Museum is a non-funded state agency that receives no regular state or federal funding. We appreciate your support!

Jacob Feske