New Orleans KOA Holiday Blog
New Orleans is the kick off city for the America 250th celebrations!!! Book now!!!
Whether you’re exploring the local area or hanging out at the campground, KOA Holidays are an ideal place to relax and play. There’s plenty to do, with amenities and services to make your stay memorable. Plus, you’ll enjoy the outdoor experience with upgraded RV Sites with KOA Patio® and Deluxe Cabins with full baths for camping in comfort. Bring your family, bring your friends, or bring the whole group – there’s plenty of ways to stay and explore.
Whether you’re exploring the local area or hanging out at the campground, KOA Holidays are an ideal place to relax and play. There’s plenty to do, with amenities and services to make your stay memorable. Plus, you’ll enjoy the outdoor experience with upgraded RV Sites with KOA Patio® and Deluxe Cabins with full baths for camping in comfort. Bring your family, bring your friends, or bring the whole group – there’s plenty of ways to stay and explore.
DO NOT USE GPS! From I-10: Take Exit 223A Williams Blvd (LA 49). Go south on Williams Blvd to the end (LA 48/Jefferson Highway). Turn left & go 3/4 of a mile. We are on the left (Starrett Road). We have a big yellow fence & sign out front. DO NOT USE GPS! GPS will run you down roads that are not RV & travel trailer friendly!
Get Google Directions
What happens in New Orleans after all of the big parades & parade season have ended??? Well...Fest season begins!!!
In New Orleans, after Easter, we move into festival season! From right after Easter on through the rest of the summer & into fall, we roll from one big festival to another, with many happening simultaneously!
One main festival that kicks this season off is French Quarter Fest. French Quarter Fest is held in the French Quarter, all along our famous riverfront.
This year, they expanded our riverfront, adding a 6-acre open park space along the river. Our riverfront was already in the top 6 in the nation. With the expansion, we now have one of the largest continuous riverfronts in the nation. We may be partial, but we think it is one of the best & is rated as such! This expansion, which opened to the public the day French Quarter Fest began, made French Quarter Fest run for 2.25 miles!
French Quarter Fest is a free music festival. It showcases local New Orleans musicians. This year saw over 300 music acts, all free & open to the public! The whole riverfront of the French Quarter is filled with stages & food vendors & riverboats that you can board to watch the shows & mobile bars, all lining the entire riverfront. This year saw over 70 restaurants out there!
This festival, that kicks off festival season here, is a great way to experience New Orleans food, drinks & music! Each year, it grows bigger & bigger & more & more popular, especially with it being free & open to the public! If you've never been here for any of our festivals, this is a great one to try out & an amazing New Orleans experience!
A week before French Quarter Fest began running in the French Quarter, New Orleans was already bursting with a slew of events! Out at UNO Lakefront Arena Festival Grounds, another popular New Orleans festival was running, "Hogs for the Cause".
Per Google; Hogs for the Cause is an "annual two-day BBQ festival which features over 90 local and regional barbecue teams competing in various pork-centric categories (Whole Hog, Ribs, Pork Butt, Porkpourri). It combines high-end BBQ with live music from local and national acts, attracting over 30,000 attendees to the UNO Lakefront Arena Festival Grounds. It is a prominent non-profit organization and annual barbeque festival, dedicated to raising funds and awareness for families with children fighting pediatric brain cancer. Founded in 2009, it has grown into one of the largest barbecue competitions and music festivals in the country, serving as the premier nationwide source of funding for pediatric brain cancer outreach services. It is considered the leading nationwide funding source for outreach services to these families, providing direct grants to help alleviate financial burdens, such as housing and medical expenses."
This is also a VERY popular event that draws a massive crowd.
At the same time this event was running, the lakefront also held its 2nd annual Powerboat Grand Prix races. This is a new to New Orleans, exciting event, that plans to run annually here in New Orleans. That area of the lake is an untapped area for tourists, but it has a beautiful, amazing lakefront with stunning views, a Country Club & amazing restaurants! At the same time those events were running, we had the rodeo come to New Orleans for the first time, ever! The Superdome hosted the Hondo Rodeo Fest, complete with a rodeo, daily street festivals & nightly performances from big name country artists! This festival also plans to return next year! Nola Motorsports Park was holding vintage car races at the same time!
Those were just a few events running all simultaneously in New Orleans, kicking off our festival season & summer! As you can see, there is something for everyone to enjoy, no matter what your interests are...music, cars, food, boats, rodeo, etc.!
We are now in Jazz Fest mode! Jazz Fest is one of our biggest events of the year here in New Orleans, after Mardi Gras...Mardi Gras is the 1st. Mardi Gras sees over 2 million people pour into our city over the main 2 weeks. French Quarter Fest sees nearly a million people over its 4 days & Jazz Fest sees between 400,000 & 500,000 over its 2 weekends.
Per Google, "The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest) is held over two weekends in late April and early May at the Fair Grounds Race Course. It showcases Louisiana's music, food, and arts, featuring over 650 musicians across 15 stages.
This is not a free event to attend, however, as you can see by the numbers, that doesn't stop people! It is a really great way again, to experience New Orleans food, music & culture! You'll even see some Mardi Gras Indians!
While Jazz Fest is running, or in between Jazz Fest weekends, we also have other major events in the city. Those include ones like Crawfish Fest & the Zurich Classic golf tournament, which sees over 100,000 people attend!
Here in New Orleans, our summers are slower & our streets are more empty of tourists, but we continue our celebrations. As you can see from our other blogs, New Orleans looks for any & every reason to celebrate everything! We move from one parade to another & then one festival to another! We NEVER stop celebrating! It is one of the most amazing & best things about our vibrant & alive city! You truly have to see it to believe it!
After Jazz Fest ends, we spend the rest of May moving on to things like citywide Cinco De Mayo festivities. These include things like parades, parties & cultural celebrations. Then, it's citywide Mother's Day festivities, like special teas & brunches.
Then, toward the end of May, we will move on to New Orleans kicking off the celebrations that will take place all summer for America's 250th anniversary! We will be one of only 5 port cities to get to participate in "Sail 250", where our riverfront will be taken over by "tall ships" & we will have a festival around that! Stay tuned for our next blog about our plans for America's 250th summer celebrations & our summer deals we are running alongside it! We will also be issuing a blog about our big plans for our 50th birthday this year! Stay tuned!
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