Events

 January

Celebration in the Oaks

Location: City Park

504-482-4888 

Admission Charged

Celebration in the Oaks lights up City Park's collection of ancient live oaks with millions of lights. Visitors can walk the two-mile stretch or drive or ride a horse drawn carriage.

Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic

Held in early January

Location: Superdome

504-587-7713 

New Orleans' oldest annual sporting event, originating in 1935.

Antiques & Collectibles Appraisal Day

Held in late January

Location: Lakeside Shopping Center on Veterans Blvd.

504-835-8000 

The "Antiques & Collectibles Appraisal Day, “a one-day event similar to PBS' "Antiques Road show " is one of the Louisiana State Museum's most popular activities. It's presented in conjunction with the Friends of the Cabildo and is sponsored by Neal Auction Company.

 

February

Mardi Gras

Held in late February - Easter

Location: A variety of locations throughout New Orleans

New Orleans' Mardi Gras is the world's most famous street party... and with good reason! The annual celebration of excess overtakes the French Quarter and crowds the streets with wildly costumed revelers!

March

Mardi Gras

Held in late February - Easter

Location: A variety of locations throughout New Orleans

New Orleans' Mardi Gras is the world's most famous street party... and with good reason! The annual celebration of excess overtakes the French Quarter and crowds the streets with wildly costumed revelers!

St. Patrick's Day Festival

Held on St. Patrick’s Day

Location: Downtown New Orleans

See the city go Green for this annual event

Tennessee Williams Literary Festival

Held in late March 

Location: Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré

985-876-4278 

The festival is an annual five-day celebration held in late March, which showcases national and regional scholars, writers, and performing artists. Programs include panel discussions, theatrical performances, a one-act play competition, lectures, literary walking tours, musical performances, and a book fair.

April

French Quarter Festival

Held in mid April

Location: French Quarter

You can't get more New Orleans than this showcase for hundreds of local musicians on 14 stages throughout the historic Vieux Carré. There's jazz, from Dixieland to contemporary and brass bands, classical, Cajun and Zydeco, rhythm and blues, gospel and everything else in between. One can sample classic New Orleans cuisine from nearly 60 food and drink booths, tour private patios, enjoy fireworks over the Mississippi River, participate in children's activities, join in a second-line parade, attend art exhibits & music workshops and lots more.

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Held in late April – early May

Location: Fair Grounds Race Course

504-943-2200 

Jazz Fest celebrates a passion for a style of music wild yet disciplined, chaotic yet ordered… a musical gumbo of tastes authentically New Orleanian in the number and variety of its ingredients. The 10-day cultural and musical festival has grown into the nation's premier jazz showcase, welcoming over 500,000 visitors to the Big Easy every year.

May

New Orleans Wine & Food Experience

Usually held in late May

Location: French Quarter

New Orleans is a place of pilgrimage for foodies and wine enthusiasts throughout the year, but never more so than during the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience... this non-stop celebration of the joys of the grape and the sublime ecstasies of fine food. The Wine & Food Experience constitutes five basic events - Vintner Dinners, The Royal Street Experience, Seminars, Grand Tastings, and Brunch. Each of these is an event unto itself, and all are eagerly anticipated.

June

Great French Market Tomato Festival

Held in early June

Location: French Quarter

Only in a city as consumed with food as New Orleans could you have an eagerly awaited festival honoring the tomato. The city's chef's- amateur as well as professional- will be out in force to sample and rate the first crop of native tomatoes. Silliness you say? Just another excuse for New Orleans natives to party? Well, there may be a hint of truth to those sentiments, but there's also no denying the importance of the tomato to the city's culinary culture.

July

Go 4th on the River

Held on July 4

Location: Woldenberg Park

504-378-2694 

When New Orleans throws a party, everybody shows up! Expect this Go Fourth on the River celebration to be more of the same, as thousands flock to the Crescent City to watch a truly spectacular display of fireworks echoing off the man-made canyons of downtown New Orleans and reflecting off the Mighty Mississippi. New Orleans celebrates our nation's Independence with a full day's worth of events. The entire riverfront gets into the act, with many area businesses hosting special Independence-themed shows.

 

Essence Music Festival

Held over the July 4 weekend

Location: New Orleans, Superdome and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

504-587-7713

The annual Essence Festival not only zeroes in on African-American-oriented forms of music but also offers "empowerment seminars" that help educate and inform the African-American community...and there's no shortage of attendees!

August

Satchmo Summer Fest

Dates vary in August

Location: French Quarter Louisiana State Museum's Old U.S. Mint

504-568-6972 

 It truly is a "wonderful world," as jazz great Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong told us in his haunting 1968 hit song. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong gained fame through his incredible musical talents and through these talents, increased New Orleans’ standing as a city of international cultural significance. New Orleans repays this debt with the Satchmo Summer Fest, a three-day celebration of the life, legacy, and music of "Satchmo."Satchmo Summer Fest is a weekend's worth of musical performances, lively seminars, captivating exhibits, children's activities, great New Orleans food, and partying New Orleans-style!

 

White Linen Nights

Usually held in mid August

Location: French Quarter

Named for a long tradition of trying to beat the summer evening heat, White Linen Nights has become a staple in late-summer activities for the people of New Orleans. Wearing white linens, as the name would suggest, travelers and locals take to a friendly stroll down the streets of the Art District. And the artwork on display in New Orleans' fabled French Quarter is stunning. One is able to view a wide selection of art; from the most avant of avant guarde to traditionalist paintings in a dozen styles.

September

Southern Decadence

Held in early September

Location: New Orleans, Superdome and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

504-587-7713

Would you miss a party called "a happening of haberdashery fit for an LSD Alice in Wonderland?" What started out as a going away party for some friends, has now transformed the first Sunday before Labor Day into one of the largest, albeit "oddest," parties you may ever attend. Southern Decadence! Indeed, the images conjured up when one thinks of the term, "southern decadence," could include tobacco, plantations and such. Maybe even the flowing dress of a southern debutante. Though you may find the flowing dress at the Big Easy's Southern Decadence celebration, it will most likely be on a MAN!

 

Meat Pie Festival & Triathlon

Dates vary in September

Location: Ntachitoches

Natchitoches has always been Hot and it's about to get Hotter! Famous Natchitoches Meat Pies celebrate with a cook-off, demonstrations, entertainment, eating contests and more. The Meat Pie Tri is held on Sunday: run, swim and bike through the National Landmark Historic District. The festival takes place at the downtown riverbank along the fabled Cane River Lake and features big name talent, a Meat Pie Eating Contest, a Meat Pie Making Contest and a Triathlon, aptly named the Meat Pie Tri, are just some of the events lined up.

 

October

Louisiana Swamp Festival

Dates vary in October

Location: Audubon Zoo

504-861-2537 

See swamp critters; chow down on Cajun jambalaya and gumbo and dance to Cajun and Zydeco music.  Bring home a piece of Louisiana's rich arts and crafts heritage from the Craft Village! New Orleans' Audubon Zoo hosts the Annual Louisiana Swamp Festival...a mélange of the artistic craftsmanship and good-time philosophy of the Cajun way of life. It's become one of the largest fall festivals in the city and one of Audubon Zoo's major yearly events.

New Orleans Film & Video Festival

Held early – mid October

Location: Landmark Theatres at Canal Place, Contemporary Arts Center, Prytania Theatre, Entergy IMAX Theatre at the Aquarium of the Americas

504-452-1216 

The festival attracts record-breaking crowds and offers year-round programs including the French Film Festival each spring. Labeling the festival, "Cannes on the Mississippi," the Times-Picayune movie critic David Baron confirmed its importance as a permanent part of the City’s cultural landscape.

 

Voodoo Music Experience

Held in mid October

Location: City Park

504-482-4888 

The producers of the Voodoo Music Experience in City Park bring you some of the hottest bands for this 2 day event.

The New Orleans Media Experience

Held in late October

Location: French Quarter

The New Orleans Media Experience is a ground breaking, first of its kind media convergence festival featuring the best available content in the areas of film, advertising, videogames and music. This weeklong celebration highlights the interrelation of content in each of these disciplines and present continuous screenings, exhibitions, panels, special events and nightly theme parties in grand New Orleans style.

Halloween in New Orleans

Held on October 31

Location: French Quarter

On the corner of Bourbon and Conti you might stumble upon (literally) a gaggle of Elvi out for a stroll... just down the block you could run into howling, growling werewolves... and of course, there's generally just a bit too much skin exposed in many a costume! Another great costume-watching spot is around Frenchman and Chartres streets, and of course the local parties are the absolute best place to find costumes sinister and sublime.

November

Louisiana Renaissance Festival

Held weekends all of November – early December

Location: Nearby Hammond, LA

The most exciting holiday shopping and entertainment in Louisiana! Open rain or shine every weekend, the "Louisiana Renaissance Festival" brings to life what an English village and festive market place could have been like, mixed with a little bit of Louisiana spice!

Annual Run Through History

Held in early November

Location:  Metairie Cemetery

504- 486-6331 

The New Orleans Track Club and Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home and Cemeteries hold their annual run through history at Metairie Cemetery. When the first race was run on the site where the Fair Grounds is today, Millard Fillmore was President of the United States! That was in 1852 and Fair Grounds was known as Union Race Course. In 1872, the Metairie Association abandoned racing at the legendary Metairie Race Course and transferred racing to the Fair Grounds, where they formed the Louisiana Jockey Club. Since its beginnings, Fair Grounds, as it came to be known just after the Civil War, endured the adversities of changing ownerships, wars, floods, fires, epidemics, hurricanes, economic hardships, racing prohibitions, politics and all forms of gaming competition.

Celebration in the Oaks

Held late November – early January

Location:  City Park

504- 482-4888 

See New Orleans' historic City Park transformed into a holiday wonderland. Its ancient oak trees are aglow with massive ornaments along the two-mile driving tour that is spangled with over two million sparkling lights and lighted displays. Celebration in the Oaks is one of the most beautiful holiday light exhibits in the country, attracting over 500,000 visitors annually. The Driving Tour features scenes appropriated from the season and South Louisiana including a 52-foot paddle wheeler, jazz musicians and a recreation of an Acadian Village alive with Zydeco music.

December

Candlelight Tour of Historic Homes and Landmarks

Held most of December

Location: French Quarter

Feel the romance and heritage of New Orleans on a tour of 19th-century homes and landmarks. It is possible to walk through much of New Orlean's rich history and stunning architecture on a self-guided tour of historic landmarks. The fascinating tour includes the Beauregard Keyes House, Gallier House, the Louisiana State Museum's 1850 House, the New Orleans's Pharmacy Museum and the Old Ursuline Convent.... most decorated in the style of Christmas past.

New Year's Eve

Held on December 31

Location: Jackson Brewery

504- 566-7245 

A large street party, a lit ball dropping from the sky, thousands counting down to the next year - no you're not in Time Square, but rather Jackson Square! Every year, a week following the relaxation of Christmas, hundreds of thousands pour out to the Jackson Brewery to welcome in another year of living and partying in New Orleans.

Arts & Entertainment

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
225 Baronne Street

New Orleans, LA 70112

504-523-6530

Call for schedule of performances

Season runs from September – May

New Orleans Opera

305 Baronne St.

New Orleans, LA 70112

504-529-2278

Call for performance schedule

The history of opera in New Orleans is the history of Opera in America. Evolutionary progress through heredity is reflected in a great culture transplanted from Mother France to the Paris of America, New Orleans, where the first resident opera company in America was founded.

New Orleans Ballet

225 Baronne St.

New Orleans, LA 70112

504-522-0996

Call for performance schedule

Anthony Bean Community Theater

1333 S Carrollton Ave.

New Orleans, LA 70118

504-862-7529

The theater was established to meet the demands of New Orleans residents interested in learning about and participating in dramatic art. 

Marquee de Marigny Theatre

2301 Chartres St.

New Orleans, LA 70117

504-943-8929

Two outrageous, gender-bending, camp comedies are performed in the Marquee de Marigny Theatre.

Saenger Theatre

143 North Rampart St.

New Orleans, LA 70112

504-569-1533
Broadway shows, musicals, and movies are performed at the theatre.

The Shakespearean Festival at Tulane

215 McWilliams Hall

Tulane University

New Orleans, LA 70118

504- 865-5105

Call for performance schedule

Louisiana's professional Shakespearean Theatre invites you for a stellar season of Shakespeare.

Southern Repertory Theatre

365 Canal St.

New Orleans, LA 70118
504-522-6545

Live Theater Professional regional theater that produces regional and world premieres of new plays by Southern playwrights and new plays set in the South.

Sports

New Orleans Hornets

Professional Basketball

Games played at the New Orleans Arena

New Orleans Arena
1501 Girod Street
New Orleans, LA 70113

504-301-4000

Season runs October – April

New Orleans Saints

Professional Football

Games played at the New Orleans Superdome

1500 Poydras St.

New Orleans, LA 70112

504-587-7713

Season runs September – January