It was in Congo Square that enslaved African people gathered on Sunday afternoons to practice their ancestral traditions. Their legacy lives on in our Congo Square Rhythms Festival, a free weekend celebration showcasing the music, food, and dance that made this city known around the world.

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About

The Congo Square Rhythms Festival, powered by Cox Communications, sits on the outskirts of the French Quarter in Tremé, celebrating the neighborhood as a key proving ground in the birthplace of jazz!

Free Admission – Donations Accepted 

Admission to the Congo Square Rhythms Festival is free. If you’d like to help us keep the Foundation’s festivals, consider supporting with a donation of your choice. Donation boxes will be set up at most of the park entrances.

Arts Market 

The Art Market will feature dozens of local artists showcasing beautiful handmade artworks and crafts, as well as imported goods.  Local artisans will be present, offering fine art, photography, jewelry, clothing, and housewares. The arts market offers space for the African diaspora’s influence on New Orleans at the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, featuring an array of artistic expressions that blend African traditions with New Orleans culture. You’ll find traditional African textiles and fabric fashioned into clothing and accessories, Intricately carved wooden sculptures, hand-blown glass sculptures, alongside contemporary mixed-media artworks that explore the African American experience in New Orleans. The market will offer handcrafted jewelry featuring materials like beads and cowrie shells, pottery, quilts, and other textile arts that draw from both African craftsmanship and Southern traditions!

Food Vendors 

Our Food Market will emphasize the African diaspora’s influence on New Orleans at the 2026 Congo Square Rhythms Festival. You’ll encounter a vibrant mix of flavors and dishes that color the culinary journey from Africa to the Crescent City. The offerings might include West African jollof rice, Caribbean specialties such as oxtail stew and Jamaican patties, which would highlight the cultural exchanges that have enriched Creole cuisine. New Orleans classics like jambalaya, gumbo, étouffée, and red beans and rice would be prominently featured, showcasing the fusion of African, French, Spanish, and Native American influences unique to the region. Other highlights will include sweet treats like beignets or pralines, and other staples of food culture in New Orleans. The food market will not only celebrate traditional dishes but also contemporary interpretations and street foods, bringing a flavorful experience to festival-goers.

Class Got Brass

Class Got Brass, presented by the Gia Maione Prima Foundation, is a program of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation to support music education in schools while promoting the traditional brass band music of New Orleans. We invite middle schools and high schools in Louisiana to create a New Orleans-style brass band of up to 12 members – and then to enter a competition in the form of a “second-line” parade with a who’s who of celebrity judges.  At stake are more than $50,000 worth of instruments and other supplies for schools’ music programs. Class Got Brass takes place in conjunction with Congo Square Rhythms Fest on Saturday, March 28, in Armstrong Park!

Mardi Gras Indian Battle

The Mardi Gras Indian battle is always a major highlight of Congo Square Rhythms Fest! Three tribes meet in Congo Square to “battle” and then unite in Indian prayer, “Indian Red” and chanting. Check out this video from 2019 shot by the WWOZ crew.

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Armstrong Park Wildlife

This weekend, as we gather in Louis Armstrong Park for the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is committed not only to celebrating culture and community, but also to honoring the natural environment and the wildlife that lives in the park.

Armstrong Park is home to a variety of wildlife, including a population of Canadian geese that reside in the park and are federally protected and considered vulnerable. We kindly ask all festival attendees, vendors, and participants to respect these animals and their habitat. Please do not approach, feed, chase, or attempt to interact with the geese or any other wildlife in the park.

We want to give wildlife the space needed to help protect their wellbeing and preserve the beauty and balance of this historic green space. Thank you for your care and cooperation.

Kids Tent

Bring the whole family to the Congo Square Kids Village, where our youngest fest-goers can explore creativity, music, and culture through hands-on activities inspired by the traditions of the African diaspora. Throughout the weekend, young people will have the chance to make their own musical instruments, colorful crafts, and wearable art while learning about the vibrant cultural influences that shape the festival. From shaking handmade maracas and crafting recycled drums to creating African-inspired necklaces, flower crowns, musical dancing cuffs, and traditional mask designs, each activity invites kids to join the rhythm and express their creativity. Families are also welcome to stop by anytime during the day to enjoy coloring activities and collaborative art-making.

Whether your child wants to make music, design wearable art, or simply enjoy a creative moment at the festival, the Kids Craft Tent offers a fun space for learning, imagination, and cultural discovery!

The Congo Square Kids Village is open throughout the festival weekend, with scheduled activities beginning at noon each day and running through 6:00 PM.

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Build and Play

The Blocks are Back!  PlayBuild’s oversized Imagination Playground “Big Blue Blocks” are fun for kids of all ages.  Children, parents, and friends can work together to design towers, forts, sculptures, and anything their creativity inspires. It’s a playful space where imagination, teamwork, and hands-on discovery come together for festival fun.

About Playbuild Nola
Founded in 2012, PlayBuild’s mission is to transform urban spaces into dynamic play and learning environments to empower kids to design their futures.  A 501c3 non-profit, we operate from our home base in Central City, providing hands-on creative play activities to aspiring architects and city builders.  Find us online at www.playbuild.org

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ADA Accessibility

For guests who need ADA accommodations, the festival will have a number of options:

There will be wheelchair drop-off areas on Rampart Street (at the St. Ann Street Gate) and also in the parking lot near the Mahalia Jackson Theatre of the Performing Arts (enter via the Basin Street Gate).

Wheelchair-accessible toilets will be kept locked for your comfort. To obtain the combination for the locks, please visit any of our information booths located at the park entrances or check with the staff at the official Merchandise Booth.

All of the food booths will have counter heights of no more than 32 inches. There will be an area reserved only for wheelchairs near the sound booth in front of the stage.

No Outside Food or Beverages or Pets

Keep The Festival Safe and Free: No Outside Food, Beverages, or Pets
Like all of the Jazz & Heritage Foundation events, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival is completely free and open to the public – part of the community investment made by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Donations, however, are gratefully accepted. If you would like to support the Foundation and help keep this event free, please make the tax-deductible contribution of your choice here.

PLEASE: Except for those with small children or dietary restrictions, please do not bring outside food or beverages to the event – no coolers are permitted.

Although Armstrong Park is usually open to pets, for the safety and comfort of the festival’s large audience, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation asks that guests respect their neighbors and leave companion animals at home (except for service animals, of course).

No Recording 

Please: No audio or video recording of our performers. 

Festival Image Gallery

Video capture and livestream of this event is made possible by Jazz & Heritage radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM New Orleans.

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2026 Festival Sponsors

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is grateful for the support provided by the sponsors of the 2026 Congo Square Rhythms Festivals including Cox Communications, Cathead Distillery, Urban South, Louisiana Lottery, Goldfarb Financial, Delta Utilities, Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, Maverick Entertainment Group, Jazz & Heritage Radio Station WWOZ 90.7 FM, WWNO 89.9, National Endowment for the Arts, Realcycle, and Chillzone.

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

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell. The Foundation uses the proceeds from Jazz Fest, and other funds, for year-round programs in the areas of education, economic development and cultural events.