New Orleans festivals you can’t miss
If you’re in the mood for merriment, New Orleans delivers year-round. In fact, our supremely social city hosts more than 130 annual festivals, parades, and celebrations. Some you’ve no doubt heard of — does Mardi Gras ring a bell? — but others are under-the-radar fetes worth finding. Whether you’re in town specifically to celebrate or are looking for something spontaneous to do, here are a few of our favorite New Orleans activities:
Black Restaurant Week New Orleans
October 13-22, 2023
Taking place in major cities across the United States, Black Restaurant Week celebrates and highlights Black-owned restaurants, chefs, caterers and bartenders. Special Black Restaurant Week menus and pricing are curated by restaurants as they participate in this weeklong celebrations of African-American, Caribbean and African cuisine.
Oktoberfest
October 13-14, 2023
October 20-21, 2023
October 27-28, 2023
German heritage is celebrated every weekend during October at the Deutsches Haus in the Rivertown section of Kenner. There is traditional music, German folk dancing, lots of cold beer, German wines and liquors, and delicious German cuisine
Krewe of Boo
October 21, 2023
Once a year the Krewe of Boo presents its fantastically horrific Halloween parade to turn the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) into the “Boo Carre!” This year’s parade will once again be held on the Saturday evening before Halloween weekend, and all are welcome to join the festivities.
33rd New Orleans Film Festival
November 2-12, 2023
The New Orleans Film festival brings the best of independent film to New Orleans with a special focus on emerging, diverse storytellers from the South and around the globe.
51st Annual Fall Festival
November 11-12, 2023
Destrehan Plantation's Annual Fall Festival opens from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Saturday, November 11th, and Sunday, November 12th, 2023 located at 13034 River Road in Destrehan, Louisiana. Admission for a full day is $9.00 per adult and teen, $5.00 per child 6 to 12 years of age, and free for children 5 and under.
Oak Street Po-Boy Festival
November 11, 2023
The Oak Street Po-Boy Festival highlights not only the importance of the po-boy itself, but also the rebirth of a once-thriving shopping district with roots as deep as the neighborhood itself. Carrollton was a separate city until it was annexed by New Orleans in 1874, and Oak Street was its commercial hub. At Oak Street Po-Boy Fest, try dozens of varieties of po-boys in the Uptown Carrollton neighborhood.
Bayou Classic
November 25, 2023
The annual Bayou Classic is a weekend of tradition, fun and football cherished by fans of Grambling State and Southern University. What started out four decades ago as a simple football game between two historically black universities has evolved into one of New Orleans biggest and most-anticipated sporting events.