The Backstreet Cultural Museum will celebrate its first anniversary at its new home on Saturday, June 17. The celebration will occur at Tuba Fats Square (1600 St. Philip Street), beginning at noon and lasting until 4 p.m.

While the museum’s one-year anniversary at this location is approaching, the museum was initially created much earlier in 1999 by the 2004 Best Of The Beat Heartbeat Award recipient Sylvester “Hawk” Francis to serve as a display of his photography. The museum officially opened in the Blandin Funeral Home in 1999, where it stayed for years until Hurricane Ida damaged the building. Today, the Backstreet Cultural Museum displays an impressive collection of masking and processional traditions, including those of Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, pleasure clubs, Baby Dolls, and Skull and Bone gangs. The museum also hosts public music and dance performances.

The Backstreet Cultural Museum Anniversary celebration will be a child-friendly event for families to visit. The celebration will also offer complimentary food, vendors, a mental health awareness tent, a Juneteenth tent, and more. Finally, the museum will host an assortment of live music performances by the Treme Brass Band, Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr., Big Chief Kevin Goodman, the Lil Rascals Brass Band, Baby Dolls and the Treme Kids will begin at 2 p.m.