French Quarter Festival 2019

                                   French Quarter Festival 

No better way to celebrate all things New Orleans than attending French Quarter Fest! This FREE four-day festival has the best of New Orleans music, food and festival fun. I was lucky to participate to last year's edition, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, great music,  friendly atmosphere and delicious food.

 From April 11- April 14 this year, head to the French Quarter to rock your way through the weekend

For over 35 years the French Quarter Festival has brought local music to dozens of stages set in the historic Vieux Carré. It’s a favorite festival of locals, and it draws audiences from all over the country.

Best of all, it's free.  In fact, it’s one of the largest free festival in the country. More than 700,000 people attend the four-day event every year.

Organizers have confirmed their 2019 lineup, which is set to feature 250 acts on nearly two dozen stages spread around the Crescent City.

Galactic, George Porter, Jr. & the Runnin’ Pardners, Irma Thomas, Amanda Shaw, Little Freddie King, Jon Cleary, Ellis Marsalis, John Boutte and Rebirth Brass Band are among the act confirmed for the multi-day festival. Additional performers include The Dixie Cups, Bonerama, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters, Cyril Neville’s Swamp Funk, The Soul Rebels, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers and more.

Let’s focus on some performers:

Saturday, April 13, 1:30p Carl LeBlanc
Dow Chemical Stage
From Sun Ra’s cosmic explorations to Preservation Hall’s traditional New Orleans jazz, Carl LeBlanc travels the sonic universe. He’s a jazz guitarist, a banjo player and a multi-genre singer-songwriter. LeBlanc’s sideman credits include Fats Domino, Sun Ra, Allen Toussaint, Bo Diddley, Ellis Marsalis, James Rivers, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
And whether he’s working his Sunday gig at Bamboula’s, his Wednesday duet with Ellen Smith at Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar, or Thursdays at the Pontchartrain Hotel, LeBlanc always puts his audience first. He’ll focus on traditional New Orleans jazz when he plays April 13 at the French Quarter Festival.
“Music is for the listener,” LeBlanc said. “It’s not for me to show what I can do or what I know or what I like. It’s really to touch the listener.”
LeBlanc’s repertoire runs from his George Benson–inspired take on “On Broadway” to the spiritually minded songs on his latest album, Those Who Have Ears. “When people ask me what kind of music I play, I shy away from that question,” he said. “There’s two kinds of music—good music and the other kind.”
 LeBlanc lives in the same New Orleans neighborhood he grew up in. “Where I live, here in the Seventh Ward, music was all around me. I could walk from my house to three or four different clubs in a three-block radius.”

Sunday, April 14, 5:45p Big 6 Brass Band
Louisiana Fish Fry Stage

Formed in 2017, the Big 6 Brass Band is a quickly rising star in the already brilliant brass-band space of the city. The group prides itself on being a small musical family of well-rounded musicians with “a big sound,” which explains their open-ended approach to music. Deft whether performing traditional New Orleans brass-band material or covers of hit songs like SZA’s “The Weekend,” the crew has earned a reputation for not only being on the pulse of brass-band culture, but at times creating quite a surge in its popularity.
Big 6 recently went viral on local media for bringing a second line inside the Elysian Fields Waffle House just hours after local rapper Theodore “Young Greatness” Jones was killed outside its doors. There, they played the revered spiritual “I’ll Fly Away.” Some may have seen the group’s other viral moment, when the band visited a Popeye’s to put on a classic New Orleans set for customers and staff. A video of that performance has garnered over 16,000 views.
On Sunday, April 14, Big 6 Brass Band will make its French Quarter Festival debut. There, trombonists Dwayne Finne and Lamar Heard; trumpeters Chris Cotton, Eric Gordon and Chadrick Honore; saxophonist Utopia Francis; snare drummer Pierre Carter; tuba player Clifton Smith; bass drummer Thaddeus Ramsey; and cowbell percussionist Chris Tero will put on a set encompassing the hip-hop, reggae, R&B, funk, gospel and traditional influences of their repertoire.

It’s also a New Orleans foodies dream come true. In addition to the music, there will be dozens of New Orleans’s best restaurants setting up stands and serving their favorite dishes and drinks across the French Quarter.  Restaurants include Antoine’s, Court of Two Sisters, Red Fish Grill, Tujague’s, Café Beignet and SoBou...to name just a few! 

There will be a number of free special events and two kids areas to keep the younger ones busy. When you're not eating or dancing by the stage, take a free tour of a garden or courtyard in one of the many French Quarter homes that will be opening their doors for the day.

If that’s not enough, there will be fireworks over the Mississippi River that are guaranteed to make you whole family cheer.

French Quarter Festival History

Lost Bayou Ramblers 2018

This festival has charmed New Orleanians since it first began in 1984, designed to remind locals how fabulous and fun the French Quarter can be. Stages are set up at every corner, food from the city’s finest restaurants fill booths in Jackson Square and beyond. It was a secret for a while, rewarding tourists who happened to be in town anyway the second weekend in April. Now this grand fete has evolved into something everyone adores – visitors and locals alike.

  

French Quarter Festival Music

Bonerama 2018

Nearly two dozen stages rock the French Quarter and surrounding areas throughout the four-day weekend, starting early in the day and going on through the night. The 2019 festival is debuting a new stage, the Pan-American Life Insurance Group Stage, on the riverfront moonwalk across from Jackson Square. 

Although the stages will be rockin' throughout the day, the Chevron Stage is adding some music into the night. On Decatur Street, enjoy a closing concert at 5:30pm on Thursday and Sunday and at 7pm on Friday and Saturday. 

French Quarter Festival Food and Drink

Bring your appetite to the festival's signature event, the "world's largest jazz brunch" in Woldenberg Riverfront Park, Jackson Square and nearby-- a tantalizing spread of beverages and specialty items from some of the best known restaurants in the Crescent City. Sample Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes, Barbecue Oysters from Red Fish Grill, Prime Rib Po-boy from the Rib Room, Baked Alaska from Antoine’s, Shrimp Remoulade from Galatoire’s and Oysters Rockefeller from Desire Oyster Bar. You can’t try all the restaurants individually during one trip to New Orleans but you can try a lot of them during this weekend. There’s jambalaya, blackened catfish po-boys, crawfish étouffée, Cajun meat pies, deep fried cupcakes, white chocolate bread pudding, soft shell crab and more. More than 60 food and beverage booths are scattered throughout the historic French Quarter and the riverfront. All dishes are priced to sample and savor.

New in 2019, a reusable beer cup will be available to help with our carbon footprint. Pick one up to use and to keep as a souvenir!

Festival Facts

Walter Wolfmann Washington 2018

In 2019 – French Quarter Festival celebrates its 36th Anniversary;

French Quarter Festival was first produced in 1984 as a way to bring residents back to the Quarter; following the World’s Fair and extensive sidewalk repairs in the French Quarter.

More than 1,500 community volunteers help to make the festival a success.

French Quarter Festivals, Inc. is a private, non-profit 501c(3) organization.

Chief sources of funding are: sponsorships, beverage and merchandise sales, vendor fees, and annual Gala.

More than 20 stages throughout the French Quarter celebrate local music and represent every genre from traditional and contemporary jazz to R&B, New Orleans funk, brass bands, folk, gospel, Latin, Zydeco, classical, cabaret, and international.

New Orleans great restaurants serve food and beverages in Jackson Square, the Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint, JAX Brewery, and Woldenberg Riverfront Park during French Quarter Festival weekend; Satchmo SummerFest hosts New Orleans restaurants with Louis Armstrong-inspired dishes and great local cuisine. Louisiana restaurants are invited to participate in these festivals.

French Quarter Festival has been consistently voted “favorite festival”, “favorite food festival”, and “favorite event open to the public” by locals.

Economic Impact

Johnny Sansone & John Fohl 2018

According to an analysis of the French Quarter Festival Visitors Survey conducted by The University of New Orleans (UNO) Hospitality Research Center, in 2017 French Quarter Festival generated a total economic impact of $190 million; the festival also generated a total of $15.8 million in tax revenue for state and local governments.

FQF employs more than 1,700 local musicians during Festival weekend

FQF hosts over 60 local restaurants which make up the “World’s Largest Jazz Brunch” at the Festival.

FQF employs only local companies during the Festival (sanitation, stages, sound, security, etc.). All money spent to produce the festival stays within the local economy.