French Quarter Festival

The French Quarter Festival is a music festival first. Its organisers describe it as a four-day showcase of local music scattered through the French Quarter of New Orleans, and as the largest free music event in the United States. This page looks at it from the plate: the festival also sets up culinary booths across the old quarter, and those booths are what this guide covers.

The 2027 edition is set for Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 April 2027. It is organised by French Quarter Festivals, Inc., a non-profit that runs three events a year, with the French Quarter Festival as its April event. The 2027 line-up of music and food was not yet published when this page was checked, on 29 September 2026.

What to eat

The festival’s culinary booths are grouped in four places: Jackson Square, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, the JAX Lot and the Jazz Museum. The 2027 list of booths and dishes is not out yet. The dishes below are New Orleans staples, worth looking for at the booths or nearby:

• Gumbo, the city’s dark, thick stew of seafood or chicken and sausage, served over rice.
• Jambalaya, rice cooked with meat or seafood and spices.
• Boiled crawfish. Spring is crawfish season in Louisiana, so April is a good month for it.
• Po’boys, sandwiches on crusty French bread, filled with fried shrimp, oysters or roast beef.
• Beignets, square fried doughnuts buried in powdered sugar, for the morning.

Practical tips

• No ticket needed. The festival is free to attend. You pay for what you eat and drink.
• Pick a base. Jackson Square and the riverfront park sit next to each other, so you can move between two food areas and the river stages on foot.
• Getting there. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is west of the city. In town, the riverfront and Canal Street streetcar lines run along the edge of the Quarter.
• Where to stay. Hotels in and around the French Quarter put you a walk from every stage and booth. Book once the dates are fixed, as it is a busy weekend for the city.
• Check the 2027 details. Stage times, booth lists and any changes are published on the official site closer to April.