The New Orleans Jazz Museum will host the 10th annual NOLA River Fest on Saturday, July 23. The daylong event celebrates the cultural, economic, environmental and inspirational impacts of the Mississippi River and its inhabitants upon the Crescent City and surrounding Gulf South region.
As with years prior, the festival will span the museum’s indoor and outdoor grounds, and virtual livestreams will allow for digital viewership. Free and open to the public since its inception, River Fest is unique among other Louisiana festivals, for it is as educational as it is entertaining. In its pursuit to raise public awareness of water-management issues and emphasize the importance of preservation activities, River Fest encourages visitors to invest thought and action into the conservation and continuation of the community they gather to celebrate.
River Fest will include live music, local food vendors, a full bar, and more. A series of concerts will kick off with a second line at noon in Jackson Square that ends at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
12–1 p.m. Treme Lafitte Brass Band featuring the N’awlins D’awlins Baby Dolls and Big Queen Mary Kay of the Original Wild Tchoupitoulas Indians
1–2 p.m. The Caesar Brothers Funk Box
2:30–3:30 p.m. GrayHawk Perkins and Friends
3:30–4:30 p.m. Keiko Komaki
5–6 p.m. Detroit Brooks
6:30–7:30 p.m. Jason Neville Funky Soul Band
Food vendors will include Clesi’s The French Stall, Fresh Fruit Sensations, Meyer’s Lemonade, Not Cho Average Nachos, Whittecar’s Effect and Beard Papa’s. Educational programming will include lectures organized by Restore the Mississippi River Delta, Water Collaborative and interactive displays by the Louisiana 4-H Foundation.
River Fest is presented by a coalition of institutions that include the New Orleans Jazz Museum, Restore the Mississippi River Delta, Water Collaborative, and the French Market Corporation; this year’s festival partners include the the Water Collaborative, National Wildlife Foundation, New Orleans Master Gardeners, LSU Agricultural Center, Louisiana 4-H Foundation, OffBeat Magazine, Gambel Communications and the Ella Project. Other sponsors include Evamore, Maker’s Mark and Ergon.
For more information on NOLA River Fest, visit nolariverfest.org or @nolariverfest on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
