Our second day in New Orleans we decided to hit up the Crescent City BBQ and jazz festival. Neither of us are big jazz lovers but we love live music, the outdoors and trying new things. As we approached Lafayette Square Park we could hear the music of Louis “ Gearshifter” Youngblood and could see the entire crowd dancing!
When we first walked up we were confused because we didn’t see a ticket booth but low and behold the event was FREEEEEE!
Southern Comfort was the very first tent we walked past and they were passing out beer coozies, shirts and beads. I also experienced a taste of my first “Southern Mule” which was simply delish to say the least.
After we stopped and picked up the free goodies we made our way over to the food area where several companies had made BBQ and other Louisiana goodies. While we were standing in line it was announced that they were actually holding a competition and asked everyone to take pictures and use specific hashtags on IG in order to vote for our favs!
I had never had shrimp and grits before so this was our first purchase and it was AMAZING! We ended up eating grits with cheese from another stand as well and I forgot to take a picture because we scarfed it down so fast LOL.
Our next stop was to the drink stand that was sponsored by ABITA. It was our first time even hearing of the company and we couldn’t make up our minds so we decided to get “ Purple Haze “ a raspberry lager and “ Peach lager”. 12 drinks later we declared this our official Louisiana drink fav.
Next we stopped at the booth where all of the event information was being passed out and picked up the cards with the program. The event ran from Friday to Sunday and was hours upon hours of both locals and musicians from it of town. It was pretty awesome they had 2 different stages set up so there wasn’t a lag in music performances. We parked our ourselves in the grass next to the north stage but had a good view of the south stage as well.
My favorite performance was by a local named Samantha Fish. Her electrifying sound was a mix between Grace Potter and Amy Winehouse. After her performance we stood in line for 20 minutes for a autographed CD and quick picture.
After 4 hours at the festival we had to go back to the hotel and take a nap. Our bellies were so full we were literally falling asleep on the lawn. All in all we decided that although we STILL aren’t huge jazz fans, we will attend as many festivals as we can since the ambiance was so great. Until next time…
Xoxo
MHS
