Looking for the 1999 Schedule? Check HERE!

1996 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

April 26 - May 5, 1996

Brought to you by Inter-Commerce Corporation

The 1996 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Welcome to the 27th year of one of the world's most important musical and cultural events. It began in 1970, when 300 musicians entertained a crowd half that number in New Orleans' historic Congo Square. Legendary talents Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Pete Fountain and Al Hirt performed, all brought together by producer George Wein - founder of the famed Newport Jazz Festival and numerous other festivals worldwide. It was announced that the new International Pavilion will open at the Festival, featuring the culture and music of a different country each year. Haiti, with its ancestry and aura of mysticism, has been chosen to launch the Pavilion. Using Haiti to introduce the Pavilion further investigates the roots between the African Diaspora and New Orleans culture.

Today, over 4,000 musicians, cooks and craftspeople welcome more than 400,000 people each year for a 10-day festival that could happen nowhere else in the world. The weekend open-air Heritage Fair, together with spectacular evening concerts and educational workshops, make the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - in the words of the Boston Globe - "America's Best Festival." It is both a rollicking, spirited celebration and a proud showcase of the authentic heritage of Louisiana and New Orleans - the cradle of jazz, rhythm and blues, gospel and zydeco.

Return to top

The Louisiana Heritage Fair

The infield of the Fair Grounds Race Course will once again be the site of the Festival's world-famous Louisiana Heritage Fair, where over two weekends, music is performed in such quantity and quality that it has claimed the title, "The Greatest Entertainment Bargain in the World." The Fair Grounds Race Track is America's third-oldest horse racing track. Here music resounds from 12 stages and marching brass bands wind their way through crowds that dance, clap and follow along in second line. Spicy, home-cooked Louisiana food is served, and hundreds of contemporary and folk artisans demonstrated and sell their work. Styles of music range from traditional and contemporary jazz to blues, rhythm & blues, ragtime, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, and everything in between.

The Heritage Fair is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, April 26, 27, and 28, and Thursday through Sunday, May 2, 3, 4, and 5. All adult tickets are $10 in advance; at the gate, tickets are $15 daily - Americas greatest entertainment bargain. Children's tickets (under age 12) are $1.50 in advance; $2 at the gate. There is special entertainment every day at the Kid's Tent. Gates open at 11:00am and close at 7:00pm.

Return to top

Food

At the 1996 Heritage Food Fair, dozens of Louisiana chefs create their own special, regional delicacies. Choose from an incomparable variety of Louisiana's famous Cajun, Creole, Caribbean, African, Spanish, Italian and Soul foods: jambalaya, red beans & rice, gumbo, boudin, alligator sauce piquante, stuffed artichoke, muffulettas, cochon de lait, po-boy sandwiches (fried shoft-shell crab, shrimp, oyster, catfish, BBQ alligator, crabmeat, etc.), crawfish served 17 different ways, fried green tomatoes, pralines, pecan pie, sweet potato pone, bread pudding and much, much more!

Return to top

Crafts

Gathered at the Heritage Fair are superior Louisiana craftspeople who form one of the most ambitious crafts fairs in the country. They display, demonstrate and sell original crafts in many areas. Festivalgoers can expect to see Louisiana Native American basketry and palmetto hut building; Cajun accordion, fiddle and triangle making; Mardi Gras Indian beading and costume making; Mardi Gras mask making; quilting; Isleno decoy carving; traditional boat building and netmaking, and more. In the Contemporary Crafts Village, Handcrafted furniture and home accessories; sophisticated and whimsical jewelry and wearable art; blown glass; photography, paintings and graphics; crafts demonstrations. In Congo Square, since New Orleans is a major American site of African retentions, the Festival presents Congo Square, and open marketplace devoted to traditional and contemporary African and African-influenced crafts and performances, including Caribbean and Latin American reflections of the Diaspora.

Return to top

The Grandstand Tent

This feature of the Heritage Fair continues as a replacement for the Fair Grounds grandstand, which was destroyed by fire in 1993. The Grandstand Tent is dedicated to different elements of Louisiana heritage, and features demonstration stages, arts and crafts displays, cooking exhibitions, and special video presentations. The daily Festival parades, starring brass bands and marching clubs, begin and end outside the Grandstand Tent.

Return to top

Parking and Transportation

All-day parking is available for a very limited number of cars. Cost is $10.00, with an additional fee for oversized vehicles. PLEASE NOTE: parking in the surrounding neighborhood is restricted and NOT recommended.

We encourage patrons to find alternate modes of travel, such as shuttles, public transportaion and carpools. There are a number of convenient ways to travel to and from the Festival.

New Orleans Tours Inc. will operate a continuous round-trip Jazz Fest Express bus service from the Superdome, major downtown hotels, City Park, and other locations to the Fair Grounds Race Track daily from 10:45am to 7:30pm. A special entrance is available only to New Orleans Tours Express buses to avoid traffic. Add $7 to the price of a Festival ticket for round-trip transportation. (Tickets from City Park also include parking.) Tickets to the Festival will be sold at each pick-up location. Advance discount tickets are available locally from all New Orleans Tours tour desks or call 1-800-380-FEST (3378).

Regional Transit Authority (RTA) operates public bus routes to the Fair Grounds. For information call (504) 569-2700. Taxis are convenient transportation. They charge a special event rate of $3 per person (groups of 3 or more) or the meter reading, whichever is higher. Check the telephone directory for listings.

Return to top

Tickets & Information

Tickets to all Festival events may be purchased at Ticketmaster ticket centers throughout the Gulf South. To charge tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at 504/522-5555, or outside Louisiana at 800/488-5252. Ticket orders can be faxed to 504/379-3291.

BACK || HOME || NEW || Louisiana || INDEX || SEARCH || FEEDBACK
Copyright © 1996, ICorp - All rights reserved worldwide Jazzfest logos and related information are trademarks/copyrights of their respected owners, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
E-Mail

E-Mail -->