Jazz Fest

Hey friends,

In an effort to catch up on sharing with you what I've been up to here in New Orleans, here's a slightly belated recap of our adventures at Jazz Fest!

I've been hearing about Jazz Fest since I moved here. Maybe even before that. And when I say Jazz Fest, I mean the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. It's the real deal, friends. Each Spring, the festival takes over the Fair Grounds Race Course for two long weekends (seven days total) filled with multiple stages that host thousands of musicians. There are specific tents for blues, jazz, and gospel music, in addition to stages of all sizes for artists of varying genres and levels of  fame. In the two Fridays my housemates and I were there, we were serenaded by...

Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes
Gomez
Comanche Hunters Mardi Gras Indians
Shades of Praise: New Orleans Interracial Gospel Choir
Irma Thomas
The Beach Boys
Marcia Ball
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Sarah Jarosz
Little Anthony & the Imperials

...and those we just the ones we intentionally spent time listening to. Countless others provided the soundtrack to our wandering between food vendors and stages. Seriously, it was borderline overwhelming the first day we were there. In case you're curious, here's just the lineup for the first day we went.

And the food! Oh, the food. I had a snoball from Plum Street Snoballs, crawfish bread (think home-made Hot Pocket...delicious bread encasing crawfish and tons of melty cheese), a fried alligator poboy, and crawfish beignets (not as weird as it might sound...they weren't sweet like the ones from Cafe du Monde). Some delicious rose mint iced tea, too. I've been told the food is almost as big a part of Jazz Fest as the music, and I'm pretty satisfied with my attempts to participate in that side of the festival.

There are also booths upon booths of crafts from various geographic locations and mediums. I only window shopped (well...tent shopped?), but it was still a great part of the experience. Also peppered in between stages, food stands, and craft booths were occasional second lines and Mardi Gras Indian parades. Below is a video of one Mardi Gras Indian celebration we happened upon at Jazz Fest, in which you can get a good look at their exquisite costumes, which are all beautifully handmade new every year. For more Mardi Gras Indian pictures and a couple other recent events, look at the pictures in this album.

The best part about Jazz Fest, I think, is that true to its full name it is genuinely a celebration of heritage. New Orleans is so much more than jazz music (not that jazz isn't lovely in itself). And while there were plenty of people there to see the big name out-of-town bands, there is nothing like the way that New Orleans embraces her local talent. Around these parts, the local talent can be just about any kind of music you'd imagine. New Orleans has a history full of countless international influences, plus a vibe that is all her own. And Jazz Fest seems to bring a lot of that together in one place.

There's the added bonus, too, that Jazz Fest has its own entry in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. I loyally add sticky notes to the pages I've seen, and as someone with a soft spot for lists, it brought me joy to add another one!

This past weekend brought with it our monthly community day, for which my housemates and I helped out at a local food pantry, then headed south to Grand Isle for some relaxing time on the beach. More on that comin' atcha soon!

Love,
Allison