8 of New Orleans' Best Festivals

[Ann Hoge]

For a fun and authentic New Orleans experience, all you have to do is attending a local festival. And in the home of Mardi Gras, you don’t have to try too hard to do that. Festival season is a year-round in the festival capital of the world, celebrating everything from NOLA’s best eats to music and culture.

So here are eight other New Orleans’s festivals worth making the trip down south for.

 

Sing Along at a Music Festival

 

The birthplace of jazz knows how to produce award-winning musicians and keep guests dancing the night away with the best live sounds of jazz, R&B, Cajunand more at its numerous music festivals. 

                            photo: Derek Bridges/Flickr

French Quarter Festival
April 6-9, 2017

Concentrating on hometown music and food, the French Quarter Festival provides hundreds of entertaining hours of music performed on more than 20 stages throughout the French Quarter. During this four-day event, there are also food and drink booths and children activities to please the whole family. It’s the biggest free music festival in the South, so you know it’s good.

 

                       photo: Takahiro Kyono/Flickr

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
April 28-May 7, 2017

Jazz got its start in NOLA, so it only makes sense the locals spend a week celebrating the soulful and smooth sounds of this music genre. For more than 40 years now, music enthusiasts from around the world travel to the Fair Grounds Race Course to hear the creative sounds - from soothing to challenging - of legendary music lineups.

 

                         photo: Essence Facebook

Essence Music Festival
June/July 2017

This annual summer festival celebrates African-American music and culture. It started as a music festival, but has grown into a national celebration of music, authors, speakers and comedians. Attend motivational seminars during the day, and then energeticconcerts at night. Big names who have performed in the Superdome in years past include Kendrick Lamar, Ciara and Charlie Wilson.

 

Get Crafty at an Art or Film Festival

Whether you’re a creative thinker or just appreciate those who are, strolling through the Arts District or watching a film premiere with Hollywood celebrities is the perfect way to celebrate the Big Easy's art scene.
 

 

                         photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans/Flickr

Art for Arts’ Sake
October 2017

Started by the Contemporary Arts Center, this one-day fall festival is the chicest of them all. Spend your day gallery-hopping along Julia Street and Magazine Street, then your evening enjoying new exhibits and musical performances at the Contemporary Arts Center. Admission to each gallery is free, and some of the downtown restaurants also offer dinner and drink specials during this festival.

 

                         photo: neworleansfilmsociety.org

New Orleans Film Festival
October 2017

Join thousands of producers, directors, writers and well-known actors at one of the USA's major film festivals. Applaud the art of film by being one of the few to watch a premiere of a full-length feature or a film screening of a short film.Films are shown in different venues throughout New Orleans, and admission prices vary.

 

Fatten Up at a Food Festival

If there’s one thing you come to Louisiana for, it should be Big Easy flavor. From po’ boys to seafood and Creole tomatoes, New Orleans food festivals are real taste bud pleasers.

 

                    photo: New Orleans/Flickr

New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
May 2017

This culinary celebration is considered a rite of passage in New Orleans. Typically more than 200 wineries and nearly a hundred of the city’s best restaurants participate. Join with the locals in raising your glass as you toast vintage wines, delicious NOLA eats and good company.

 

                         photo: The New Orleans Oyster Festival Facebook

Oyster Festival
June 3-4, 2017

Thousands of Louisiana oysters, live music and fun competitions make this two-day, outdoor event one you can’t pass up. Held in Woldenberg Park, test your luck at an oyster shucking or oyster eating contest, and then test your taste buds to find out which Gulf oyster and white wine combo is the palate-winning pair.

photo: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Facebook

Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival
November 2017

Besides jazz and good seafood, New Orleans is known for having amelting pot culture. And the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival is the perfect way to experience the different cultures living in the city—and who know how to cook up this delicious signature dish. Gather in Armstrong Park and be prepared to have all your senses heightened.

 

Places to Stay

After a day filled with food, music and fun, you need a comfortable place torest so you can do it all over again tomorrow. Below are some great choices that are allcharismatic, clean and near festival locations.

 

Hotel Indigo New Orleans Garden
2203 St. Charles Ave.; 504-522-3650

Nestled in the beautiful Garden District, this boutique hotel serves up neighborhood charm while the friendly staff serves both people and pets. And it’s just over two miles from the French Quarter, so you’re removed from the noise but only a short trolley ride away from it.

 

Hotel Mazarin
730 Bienville St.; 504-581-7300

If you want to experience true Southern hospitality, stay at Hotel Mazarin. It’s elegant and comfortable, and although located in the French Quarter, many say it’s a peaceful and quiet stay.

 

Bourbon Orleans Hotel
717 Orleans St.; 504-5223-2222 

Everything you’d want for your New Orleans visit; the staff is helpful and friendly, and the hotel’s French Quarter address puts it near historic sites, authentic cuisine and jazz music.

 

Bienville House
320 Decatur St.; 504-529-2345

This inn, which just had a recent multi-million dollar renovation, resides in the heart of the French Quarter and is the perfect location for those wanting to stay near Jackson Square. Offering premium accommodations and various room types and rates, it’s perfect for every type of traveler.