This Saturday, December 14, New Orleans’ newest and biggest riverboat, the Riverboat Louis Armstrong, will open its doors. The commissioning ceremony commences at 3:30 p.m., featuring President and CEO of Hospitality Enterprises Warren J. Reuther Jr., Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation Executive Director Jackie Harris, followed by a performance by Deacon John and the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Ensemble at 4 p.m.
Feel free to explore and enjoy the vessel until 10 p.m., thanks to Hospitality Enterprises/ the BigEasy.com team. Guests can board the boat directly behind the Hilton Riverside at Riverwalk (2 Poydras, where Canal and Poydras Streets meet the River). At 6 p.m., the Free Agents Brass Band will perform for the public.
Rumors of Indiana’s City of Evansville being repurposed into a floating music and entertainment venue first began earlier this year. With a whopping 3,000 passenger capacity, the boat boasts four entertainment decks and is available for concerts, weddings, conventions and private parties.
There will be a “Louis Armstrong Gospel jazz brunch” on Sundays and “Jazzin’ on the River Down in New Orleans,” a series of late night and moonlight cruises with live music.
As mentioned back in May, “The pièce de résistance [of the ship] will be a Riverboat Louis Armstrong Foundation Room on the third level with Satchmo memorabilia on display. Visitors will learn about his life and career through his music and the instruments he played, right here in his hometown.”
“Jazz music is such an important reason why people visit New Orleans from all over the world, and until now, there has really been no venue big enough that allows visitors to experience large scale music on the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans. We want the Riverboat Louis Armstrong to bring the music of its soul and the vibrancy of the river region together, just as Mr. Armstrong performed on a riverboat in New Orleans,” says Reuther, of Hospitality Enterprises.
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