New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
New Orleans, LA

For those living in New Orleans, the annual Jazz Fest needs no explanation. We know what it is and what it means. It means seven days of music on two separate weekends, the likes of which will exhilarate and exhaust every music lover. It means every music club throughout the city will have incredible bands, sometimes playing till the sun comes up. It means joyous visitors will be on our streets, streetcars, in our restaurants, hotels and shops. It means music will take over the city for two weeks. And Jazz Fest does not mean exclusively jazz.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is one of the best parties we put on in the state. Each year the Jazz Fest organizers present us with an unparalleled music experience that reminds us how lucky we are to live in a place with such an abundance of music, food, art and thriving cultural traditions.

A mini-village is built at the Fair Grounds Race Course site in the Mid-City neighborhood, with eleven stages of simultaneous music programming – meaning approximately 60 performances per day.

Regional music is well represented with a variety of Cajun, swamp pop, zydeco, gospel, Mardi Gras Indians and brass bands.

As you make your way from stage to stage, with music playing from 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., you'll need to fortify yourself. The variety of food is an unparalleled representation of Louisiana cuisine. The more than 70 food booths offer an array of dishes including Muffulettas, Crawfish Étouffee, Softshell Crab Po-boys, Gumbo, Natchitoches Meat Pies, Oyster Rockefeller Bisque, Cracklins, Shrimp Tacos, Pecan Catfish Meuniere and on and on and on.

A stunning array of one-of-a-kind art is available around the grounds in the Festival's crafts areas. The Contemporary Crafts area is a highly competitive, juried art fair featuring up to 60 different artists each weekend - showcasing alluring handcrafted clothing, beautiful leather goods and hand-blown glass, along with a brilliant array of paintings, photographs, sculptures and jewelry.

In the Louisiana Marketplace, the state's finest traditional and contemporary artists display and sell hand-colored photographs, pine needle baskets, whimsical jewelry, and other creations that evoke the state's unique cultural history. In the Louisiana Folklife Village, you can see musicians meticulously handcraft accordions and guitars, and papier mâché artists create whimsical sculptures for Mardi Gras floats.

Enter Congo Square and experience music and art from Africa and the African Diaspora. The Congo Square stage features performances by African, African-American, African-Caribbean and Latino musicians. Shop at Congo Square African Marketplace for original paintings, sculpture, clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, and an array of handcrafted artwork.

For more information, visit www.nojazzfest.com or call 504.410-4100.

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