2024 Congo Square Rhythms Festival Food Menu and Craft Vendor Announcement

2024 Congo Square Rhythms Festival Food Menu and Craft Vendor Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW ORLEANS (March 12, 2024) – Food menus and craft vendors have just been announced for the 2024 Congo Square Rhythms Festival presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. The Congo Square Rhythms Festival will be held in Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square on Saturday, March 23, and Sunday, March 24, featuring two performance stages and large food and arts markets starring a variety of local vendors. 

Admission to the festival is free and open to the public.

Food vendors at the 2024 Congo Square Rhythms Festival are Brocato’s, Cafe Dauphine, Cocoa & Cream, DBest Gumbo, Divine Cuisine, Jamaican Jerk House, LaDelyo’s Creole Catering, Que Pasta Nola, Soule Café, Theaudric’s Real Clever Cuisine, and The Yakamein Lady. Dessert vendors include Fresh Fruit Sensations, Jessie’s HuckABucks, KD’s Nola Treats, Keyala’s Praline’s, and Quintin’s Ice Cream.

Craft vendors featured in the arts markets at the festival are A Rolling Stone Jewels, Awry Communications LLC, Bamboozle, Baobab Tree Designs, Bayousoap Co, Breathe Enlight Apothecary, Cathy’s Creations, Cavalier Expressions, Chetta Art, Derek Patterson Art, Elemental Designs, Empress Herbals, Faerie Formations LLC, Ficus Ceramica, J Hand Paints, Jewelry by Bridgeja’ LLC, Joshua Lee Studio, Kina B. Handcrafted, Lovie Mae Soaps, Magnolia Studios, Little Shop of the Neighborhood, Nolaswamp, Passion Lilie, Ridgewalker Glass, Shae Shea LLC, Still Waters Jewelry, Studio NO, LLC, Creations of Zohar, TPL Creations, UglyBettyBoyCrush by Plusisaplus, Valois Designs, We3Kings, Wilson Hair Care, Zelda’s African Imports, ChreegooAndPiruShop, and Big Daddy Cigars.

The musical lineup includes Rebirth Brass Band, The Rumble, Corey Henry & Treme Funktet, The Original Pinettes Brass Band, Hot 8 Brass Band, Tribal Gold, Treme Brass Band, Max Moran & Neospectric, Bamboula 2000, Alexey Marti with special guest Yusa, LeTrainiump, Alfred Banks with special guest Kaye the Beast, Free Agents Brass Band, Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band, Red Hot Brass Band with Leslie Cooper, Claude Bryant & the Reggae Allstars, The Bra’s, and Sporty’s Brass Band. An African drum circle will also be led by Baba Luther Gray. African dance groups featured at this year’s festival are, N’fungola Sibo, N’Kafu & Culu, Kumbuka Dance Ensemble, Tekrema Dance Ensemble, and Free Spirit Walkers. The Mardi Gras Indian Battle will feature Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors, The Blackfoot Hunters, and The Monogram Hunters. 

The musical festivities kick off with a live concert by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center, 1225 N. Rampart Street, on Friday, March 22. Tickets for this show are $10, available here.

Leading up to the festival, a Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture will explore the rich oral traditions from Africa, focusing on how these traditions are passed down through family lineage. Big Chief Victor Harris’ journey and the Mandingo Warriors’ unique contributions to the Black Masking Indian Tribe will be highlighted. The lecture is free and open to the public on Wednesday, March 20, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center, 1225 N. Rampart Street.

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live Music schedule 

Two Full Days of Music 10:45am to 7:00pm 

No recording. Please, no audio or video recording of any performances at the festival. 

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The festival also includes a roaring tribute to New Orleans’ brass band tradition. The Class Got Brass competition is presented by the Gia Maione Prima Foundation and takes place on Saturday, March 23, where middle and high schools in Louisiana have the opportunity to create a New Orleans-style brass band with up to 12 members. They’ll enter a competition in the form of a “second-line” parade with celebrity judges, and more than $50,000 worth of instruments and supplies are up for grabs for the winning schools’ music programs. The deadline to apply is Friday, February 23, 11:00 pm. Learn more and apply at classgotbrass.org.

The 2024 Congo Square Rhythms Festival is proudly sponsored by Cathead Vodka, ChillZone, Louisiana Division of the Arts, Louisiana Lottery, Oxbow Rum, Still Austin Gin, and Urban South Brewery.

Class Got Brass is presented by the Gia Maione Prima Foundation. 

About the Gia Maione Prima Foundation:

In 2011, the Gia Maione Prima Foundation was established with the assistance of long-time friend and counsel, Anthony J. Sylvester of Sherman Atlas Sylvester & Stamelman LLP. Gia Maione Prima was a singer and the widow of Louis Prima, the famous jazz musician, singer and composer from New Orleans. The GMPF makes donations to tax-exempt organizations supporting and encouraging an appreciation for American jazz, American popular music and jazz performance as well as the fine arts.

About the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation:

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation invests proceeds from Jazz Fest and additional funds that we raise for year-round programming in education, economic development and cultural enrichment. Education programs include the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, the Tom Dent Congo Square Lectures, the Class Got Brass competition for school brass bands, a youth audio workshop program, youth vocal workshops, and more!  Economic Development initiatives include the Community Partnership Grants, the Catapult Fund accelerator program and Sync Up entertainment industry workshops.  Cultural enrichment programs include the Jazz & Heritage Concert Series and annual Foundation Festivals: the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival and the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival. Importantly, these are free programs that the Jazz and Heritage Foundation has developed over many years to ensure that we give back to Louisiana. The Jazz & Heritage Foundation also owns radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM and the Jazz & Heritage Archive.  In late 2014, the Foundation opened the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center – an education and community facility named for the late Jazz Fest founder George Wein and his wife Joyce. In March of 2020, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation established the Jazz & Heritage Music Relief Fund – a statewide relief fund to support Louisiana musicians who were affected by the pandemic. In the last two years the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has been able to provide relief funds of more than $2 million dollars supporting musicians, music industry gig workers, Black Masking Indians and other indigenous cultural practitioners. To learn more about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, please visit us online at www.jazzandheritage.org

MEDIA CONTACT

Baylee Badawy, Marketing & Communications Coordinator

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation

504-766-0671

bbadawy@jazzandheritage.org