This Epic 10-Day Festival In New Orleans Is A Music Lover's Paradise

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival celebrates its 50th year this year, and you’re not going to want to miss it.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival/Facebook

More commonly known as Jazz Fest, this epic festival takes place April 25 through May 5th.

Over the years the festival has grown exponentially.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival/Facebook

What started as a humble festival with only about 350 attendees has grown into a cultural symbol of New Orleans, attracting thousands of visitors each year.

By their fifth year, they had an attendance of 80,000.

Lhamlin/Trip Advisor

Today, it’s the second most popular tourist attraction in New Orleans, rivaled only by Mardi Gras.

The festival features a wide variety of local and national musical acts spread across twelve stages around the Fair Grounds Race Course.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival/Facebook

From Zydeco to Pop and everything in between, this festival covers just about every type of music you could imagine.

Come out and feast on some incredible cuisine from local restaurants and catering companies.

Doug Anderson/Flickr

You won’t find any carnival food here. This is a festival celebrating New Orleans, so you can expect some of the most mouthwatering local cuisine you've ever tasted.

Jazzfest is all about celebrating our culture, and that doesn’t stop with the music.

Doug Anderson/Flickr

Crawfish Monica, po’boys, beignets and more will all be available for purchase, not to mention several alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. There will also be several local and national artists at various tents throughout the Fairgrounds selling everything from musical instruments to sculptures, paintings, and hand crafted jewelry.

If there’s a musical act you want to see, you’d better get there early.