NEW ORLEANS – Once silenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival opened for the first time in three years – a long awaited 2022 revival that holds echoes of 2006 when the annual celebration of music and culture went on even after Hurricane Katrina.
“We’ve weathered a storm like no other,” declared lifelong New Orleans resident Jennifer Jones, referring to the pandemic. She was carrying a feather-adorned parasol and strutting the grounds in an outfit of iridescent pinks, blues and yellows.
The two-weekend production draws tens of thousands to the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course, where as many as 80 musical acts perform daily on more than a dozen stages, complemented by art and craft exhibits and an array of booths featuring foods from Louisiana and beyond.
The 2020 cancellation, plus cancellations of planned returns in spring and fall of 2021, were emotionally devastating for festival organizers and fans, said Davis. And they brought recurring economic shocks for the bars, restaurants and music venues that count on an influx of Jazz Fest visitors.
“It’s our biggest two weekends of the year,” said James Gonzci, a co-owner of Liuzza’s by the Track, recalling the disappointment according to AP. The neighbourhood bar and restaurant draws overflow crowds after each day of the festival.
Longtime festival producer Quint Davis recounts two strong emotional memories from that festival: Bruce Springsteen bringing the local crowd to tears singing “My City of Ruins” to close the first weekend, and the joy at having crowds line up at the gates on opening day.
“It was just incredible energy, like a pilgrimage,” Davis recalled
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