French Quarter Festival


French Quarter Festival is a free, annual music festival held in early April, located in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1983 with the first festival held in 1984, the festival features primarily New Orleans music, such as jazz, blues, and zydeco from hundreds of local musicians, as well as food from dozens of New Orleans restaurants.
In April, 2008, the jazz pianist Ronnie Kole recalled the origins of the idea of creating a new event in New Orleans. In the early 1980s, the Mayor's office recruited ten people, nine business owners and one musician, to put together a new festival for the city. With an estimated attendance of over 800,000 in 2019, the festival bills itself as "the world's largest showcase of Louisiana music." The next year, however, saw the event get cancelled as the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame.
During the festival, more than 20 stages throughout the French Quarter perform local music and represent genres from traditional and contemporary jazz to R&B, New Orleans funk, brass bands, folk, gospel, Latin, Zydeco, classical, cabaret, and international.
The festival is formally overseen by French Quarter Festivals Inc. which is led by CEO Emily Madero. The nonprofit French Quarter Festivals, Inc. also produces Satchmo SummerFest in August and Holidays New Orleans Style.