It’s festival time in New Orleans! That’s not to say that we don’t have festivals all year long, but the springtime is special because the French Quarter Festival and Jazz Fest take place. The French Quarter Fest is a homegrown operation, run by a small board of locals (disclosure: I am on that board), a staff of only seven people and a host of dedicated volunteers.
French Quarter Fest was originally meant to attract locals back to the Quarter after construction for the 1984 World’s Fair event disrupted traffic, but it grew from there. It has become an economic powerhouse and showcase for local-only musicians, food, and a way to get people to experience the French Quarter.
French Quarter Fest is not operated by the city. It’s a private organization (French Quarter Festivals, Inc., or FQFI) that not only produces the French Quarter Festival, but also Satchmo SummerFest and Christmas New Orleans Style.
All of the FQFI events are free to the public, which means that the money that’s needed to produce the festival has to be generated from the sales of beverages, beer and merchandise, and sponsorships. And while there are sponsors like Capital One for this year’s French Quarter Fest, it doesn’t have deep-pocket sponsors like Jazz Fest does. This year, the organization has introduced a “Fest Family” special package for sale at FQFI.org that includes bumper stickers, special merchandise, access to hospitality areas and more.
In the past five years, attendees at French Quarter Fest may have even exceeded Jazz Fest; the French Quarter Festival has grown to 18 stages and literally spreads from the Old Mint and French Market down through Woldenberg Park to the Aquarium and over to Bourbon Street. I think it’s truly amazing what the festival has become, but what I find even more amazing is that the City of New Orleans doesn’t really have a stake in producing the Festival, and provides very limited support. Police, sanitation, etc. are all paid for by FQF out of limited funds. What is fact has happened is that FQFI has become the second-largest festival organizer in the city. The Jazz & Heritage Foundation has also become a major player in producing local festivals with its Blues & BBQ Fest, Fiesta Latina and others. We have the capacity to host even more festivals that celebrate our music and culture, but we need the people to do it. The city needs to step up to the plate and take a financial interest in festival production by providing these people with some serious monetary support, if nothing else, waiving or seriously reducing fees for city services.
If we’re going to brand ourselves as the “Festival Capital of the US,” we need to have some more support from the city, which supports the Jazz Fest in a big way. There’s room for a lot more festivals in New Orleans, but it takes security, police, logistical machinations, sanitation and more services that can—and should—be provided by the city. They provide this for Mardi Gras, why not for local festivals? The City of Chicago has a festival office. Perhaps the new administration should consider doing the same thing.
