“Tired” nurse Andrea Olexa and her boyfriend Matthew Bosse celebrate Jazz Fest as best they can on their porch by listening to the WWOZ broadcast. This would have been the couple’s third Jazz Fest at their home near the Fair Grounds had the annual festival not been cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. Photographed on Friday, April 24, 2020. (Photo by Michael DeMocker)

Here’s your guide to Jazz Festing in Place 2021

by Mary Staes | April 23, 2021

The Music

Upset Jazz Fest is canceled (again) because of COVID-19?

Don’t put up those festival chairs and flags just yet!  WWOZ-FM is presenting “Festing In Place: An On-Air Festival” — a virtual Jazz Fest of sorts.

Here’s how it will work.

The station plans to broadcast all eight days of Jazz Fest from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. — the same hours the gates would have been open for the festival. The radio station also plans on creating their own cubes highlighting the performances, which include Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder, Fats Domino, Joe Cocker and Dr. John. They’ll also include interview segments talking about the music, food, crafts and heritage of New Orleans, just like you’d hear in the different tents throughout the fairgrounds.

Want to Fest in Place and Jazz Fest like a pro at home? Here are 10 things you will need!

“Festing in Place” will air on WWOZ-FM April 22-25 and April 29-May 2 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

 

The Best Food for Festing in Place

Phythian Market

Working with Jazz Fest vendors, Pythian Market is making some of the festival’s food selections available for pickup like crawfish bread, Prejean’s gumbo and La Divina’s sorbets.

Pickup and delivery are available from Noon to 8 p.m. on April 22-25 and the same times from April 29-May 2.

You can order online here.

NOLA Fest Food Pop-Ups

The folks at Big River Foods (aka the Crawfish Monica stand) and Caluda’s Cottage Catering (crawfish strudel and white chocolate bread pudding) are bringing you their dishes in Elmwood at 1536 River Oaks Road. You can see the full menu and pickup times here.

Gabrielle Restaurant

Gabrielle Restaurant is baking up crawfish bread! You can pick it up Thursday-Saturday 4-8 p.m. and order online here.

The Munch Factory

Chef Jordan Ruiz has put his spin on the soft shell crab po-boy with the St. Clawed, topped with mixed greens and a special sauce.

WWOZ Website

The official “Festing in Place” website has collected a list of vendors you can place your orders from for take-out and delivery. They include the crabmeat beignets from Loretta’s Pralines, fried fish tacos from Taqueria Corona and the yakiniku po-boy from Ajun Cajun. Click here to see the options. 

This isn’t our first rodeo

Yes, 2020’s Jazz Fest was canceled as well, but we handled it like the pros we are! Click here to see our gallery of New Orleanians festing at home and get some ideas for your own humble abode!

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Mary Staes

Mary Staes

Mary Staes is Digital Content Lead for Very Local. She works with our freelancers and crafts content for our social media platforms and website. Before Very Local, she worked with CBS affiliate WWL-TV as a web producer and weekend assignment editor for about 4 years. She has also handled broadcast coverage for 160 Marine Reserve training facilities while she served as an active duty Marine. As a native New Orleanian, she takes being "very local" to heart. She loves being intertwined with the culture and figuring out how there are less than two degrees of separation between us all, whether we're natives or not.

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