The Event

The event kicks off on Friday night with a performance from John Boutte and Family with special guests: Tanya Boutte & Arséne DeLay at the Jazz & Heritage Center (this event is SOLD OUT and will be live streamed for FREE HERE). Then head over to Armstrong Park on Saturday and Sunday for a lineup featuring Cha Wa, Casmé, Cyril Neville, Erica Falls,Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and many more. The festival is free to attend and highlights include lots of gumbo, African dance and drumming, live music, and an arts market.

The Congo Square Rhythms Festival celebrates New Orleans traditions that stem from the African diaspora. Notably, the festival occurs in Congo Square, the location in New Orleans where enslaved Africans and free people of color gathered on Sundays and continued their traditions of song, dance, and drumming. 

The Gumbo

In addition to the music, you’ll discover some of the best gumbo cooking to be found in the southern Louisiana region. Representing the cultural mix of New Orleans, gumbo is a signature dish at many of the city’s great restaurants, several of which always maintain a presence at the festival. From dark roux chicken and sausage gumbo, Creole filé gumbo, seafood gumbo, and even vegan gumbo, the festival will feature something for everyone. There will even be a gumbo cook-off and several cooking demonstrations by local chefs! Other creole dishes and New Orleans favorites will be served as well, celebrating the rich culinary traditions of New Orleans’ African, Afro-Caribbean, and African-American communities. 

For more information on the entertainment lineup and food vendors, visit the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation website and New Orleans dot com. See you there!