New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest)

About this happenin

Jazz Fest, formally the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, fills the Fair Grounds Race Course at 1751 Gentilly Boulevard for two Thursday-to-Sunday weekends that straddle the end of April and the start of May. Roughly 85 to 90 percent of the acts come from Louisiana's own music community, so zydeco and brass bands share the schedule with the jazz. Its first bill, in 1970, had Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington on it, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation still runs it. The food areas serve over 200 dishes. Crafts fill the Congo Square African Marketplace and the Louisiana Marketplace, and the Folklife Village has artisans at work. Gates open at 11 a.m. and the last admission is 6:30 p.m. The festival is cashless. Tickets go on sale once the line-up is announced. Parking on the surrounding streets is residents only, and the Jazz Fest Express shuttle is the one ride that drops off inside the gates, with stops downtown and at City Park.

More in April: 5 other New Orleans events.

Where

Fair Grounds Race Course · 1751 Gentilly Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70119