Celebrate National Happy Hour Day! 11/12

Veteran's Day

Honoring All Who Served - Thank You!

"Fete Des Fromages" NOLA Cheese Fest - 11/16/2019

Taste more than 150 cheeses and meet cheesemakers from around the world at the NOLA Cheese Fest or "Fete Des Fromages" held on the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Enjoy unlimited cheese samples and purchase wine, beer, and cocktails of your choice. Hang out on the lawn and listen to local bands, or watch chefs battle it out on stage in a race to break down giant wheels of cheese.

Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival - 11/16 & 17/2019

Welcome to the 12th annual Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival – New Orleans’ premier brass band showcase. If you love brass bands and gumbo   – or, better yet, enjoying some delicious gumbo while listening to New Orleans jazz in a beautiful downtown park – then we've got you covered!

The 2019 Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival takes place Saturday, Nov. 16, and Sunday, Nov., 17, from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. both days in Louis Armstrong Park. Admission is free. The festival is produced and presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell.  Once again, we will host the finest display of traditional and contemporary New Orleans brass band jazz to be found anywhere on the planet.

Celebrating the Birthday of Al Hirt! 11/7

Trumpeter and bandleader Alois Maxwell “Al” Hirt, nicknamed "Jumbo" and "The Round Mound of Sound", was born in New Orleans on November 7, 1922. A Police Officer’s son, he played in the Junior Police Band with a trumpet purchased for him from a pawn shop when he was 6 years old. By the age of 16, he was playing professionally with his friend, jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain. In the 1940s he performed with the preeminent swing bands of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman. In the 1950s he returned to New Orleans, working with various Dixieland groups and leading his own bands. Hirt's virtuosic playing attracted the attention of RCA Victor, and he posted twenty-two albums on the Billboard charts in the 1950s and 1960s. He had two Top 10 best selling albums in 1964, and scored a hit single with his cover of New Orleans legend Allen Touissaint’s “Java”, later winning a Grammy for the same recording.

In 1962 Hirt opened his own club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which he ran until 1983. He also became a minority owner in the NFL expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967. In 1965, he hosted a television variety series, and he starred along with a marching band at the first Super Bowl halftime show in 1967. Hirt was famously injured while riding on a Mardi Gras float in 1970; it is believed he was struck in the mouth by a piece of concrete brick. Fortunately, he underwent surgery, and later returned to the club scene. And, in 1987, Hirt played a solo rendition of "Ave Maria" for Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans. Hirt died on April 27, 1999, of liver failure at the age of 76. in 2009, Hirt was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Today we celebrate the birthday of this New Orleans legend!

Photo by: Ron Kroon / Anefo

Central City Festival - 11/9/2019

Central City Festival attendees will enjoy the rhythms of a wide range of music, along with cooking demonstrations, dance performances, arts and crafts vendors, local food trucks and popular food vendors. Various non-profit and health organizations provide valuable information and health screenings. There are also lots of activities for children and youth, including the annual youth dance contest and youth 3-on-3 basketball tournament with prizes. The Festival takes place on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.