During the event, more than a dozen stages are set up throughout the French Quarter, offering music by local talents as well as international stars. Although traditional and contemporary jazz take center stage, the festival also features other musical genres, including Latin, rhythm and blues, Cajun and zydeco, New Orleans funk, classical, swing, and rock.
Almost as important as the music is the food that is available to festival-goers. While jazz-lovers have access to New Orleans restaurants, the festival's signature food event is its "World's Largest" jazz brunch, featuring the region's wide variety of cuisine. Dishes such as jambalaya, blackened catfish, Creole and Cajun delicacies, and po-boys are available throughout the French Quarter and the Woldenberg Riverfront Park. At the 2010 festival, dishes were typically priced at $5 and below.
It is highly recommended to plan far in advance if you want to attend this event, as hotels fill up early, with some reservations made a year in advance. Hotels in the center of the action tend to fill up first. The French Quarter Jazz Festival is usually held on the second full weekend of April, unless that weekend lands on Easter Sunday. Future dates for the event are listed on the festival's official website (see Resources).
In addition to music and food, the French Quarter Jazz Festival also features special events, including such wide-ranging activities as the parade that kicks the event off on Friday, from Bourbon Street to Jackson Square, along with lectures on the history of jazz and a crawfish-eating contest. Events are scheduled well in advanced for those planning to attend. Children's events and activities are also available.
Attendance at the festival continues to grow, and in 2010, a record 512,000 people were estimated at the event, according to an article by Keith Spera in the local Times-Picayune newspaper. While Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, affected attendance in the years following the disaster, attendance numbers have continued to climb. However, exact tallies are difficult because no tickets are sold, so estimates are based on hotel occupancy, beer and food sold, and estimates provided by the festival's organizers.