Photo by Chris Granger
New Orleans loves to throw a party, and this is especially true in the spring, when the weather is pretty much perfect, and there are dozens of festivals featuring the best of live, local music and honoring every type of food we love. There’s something to do every weekend starting in March and through June (the official spring dates are March 20 through June 20), and many events are free. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss this spring.
Wednesday at the Square
Wednesdays, March 19 and 26, 2025
Unwind with a cold beverage on any given Wednesday at the Square, a free concert music series held in the spring in Lafayette Park (located one block off of Poydras Street, between St. Charles Avenue and Camp Street in the heart of the Central Business District) every Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. From March through May (March 19 – May 7, 2025) these outdoor concerts feature a variety of jazz, rock, swam pop, brass, Latin rhythms, and more.
Bring a chair or a blanket, or head to the front of the stage to partake in some dancing. You can bring your dog, and there are vendor booths surrounding the park where you can buy food and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (no outside food or beverages, please).
Danny Barker Banjo & Guitar Festival
Wednesday-Sunday, March 19-23, 2025
The Danny Barker Banjo + Guitar Festival pays homage to New Orleanian musician, writer, instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and lyricist Danny Barker. The five-day festival features a mixture of programming including live music performances, panel discussions and workshops, special events and outings, second lines, and more. It will be held at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
New Orleans Entrepreneur Week
Monday-Saturday, March 24-29, 2025
The New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) kicks off six days of speeches, speaker sessions and networking events on March 24, 2025. New this year, Loyola University’s College of Business will co-produce this annual event with The Idea Village. Idea Village’s annual IDEApitch competition, which showcases growth-stage companies competing for an investment prize, is also back this year. NOEW is now in its 14th year and has attracted 5,400 attendees in 2024. For this year’s keynote speakers and more info, check out the event’s website.
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane
Thursday-Saturday, March 27-29, 2025
The New Orleans Book Festival features both fiction and non-fiction and readings, panel discussions, symposia, and keynote speeches. It also provides an opportunity for outlets, authors and readers to interact with each other. Saturday is Family Day, so bring your kids to the Tulane campus for some fun. Previous year’s notable authors and speakers on the impressive roster included Andy Borowitz, Richard Campanella, Maureen Dowd, and many more — so expect A-list greatness this year as well. The festival is free and open to the public.
St. Patrick’s Day
Monday, March 17, 2025
It often comes as a surprise to first-time visitors to New Orleans that this city has a deep Irish heritage, which traces back to its history as a Catholic port of call that was one of the main entry points for the USA. There’s an entire neighborhood in this town called the Irish Channel, plus a plethora of fantastic pubs that eschew cheesy emerald-green Irish stereotypes for rough-hewn hospitality (Finn McCool’s and Erin Rose come to mind, plus a selection of our favorite Irish pubs in the French Quarter).
As such, there are plenty of Irish in this town, and thus, the weekend closest to St. Patrick’s Day is an important one for the city of New Orleans. Numerous parades kick off, including the massive Irish Channel parade (on Saturday, March 15, 2025), where float riders pass cabbages to the screaming crowds.
The Downtown Irish Club Parade rolls on Sunday, March 16, 2025, from the Bywater to the French Quarter, making several pit stops on its way to Bourbon Street.
How much you enjoy all of the above is linked to your tolerance for public drinking and green beer. St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans is not quite as kid-friendly as the Carnival — you’ll still see families, but these parades are more aimed at adults.
Super Sunday
Sunday, March 16, 2025
The annual gathering of the Mardi Gras Indian tribes is perhaps the most open means of accessing this unique element of New Orleans backstreet culture. The tribes will be out in large numbers on Super Sunday, which usually falls on the third Sunday of March.
While the Mardi Gras Indians have their set routes and parade areas, no one event packs the tribes into one public space like Super Sunday. In this case, said public spaces are A.L. Davis Park, at the corner of Washington and LaSalle streets; and Bayou St. John in Mid-City, at the intersection of Orleans and Moss streets, on the bayou’s banks and the Orleans Street bridge. The Indian procession usually leaves the gathering spot around 1 p.m.
We can’t stress this enough: Be respectful if you go. Take pictures at a distance, and don’t get in the way of marching Indians or their friends, family and attached bands. Super Sunday has been overrun with spectators in the past years, so please do your part to enjoy this amazing cultural event responsibly.
Some background: The Mardi Gras Indians are the most vibrant, visible and conversely mysterious expressions of African-American New Orleans culture. To distill them into an extremely simplistic sentence: Mardi Gras Indians are African-American New Orleanians who dress up (or in local lingo, ”mask”) as stylized Native Americans.
They take to the streets in fantastic costumes made of beads, feathers, and sequins that cost thousands of dollars, weigh hundreds of pounds, and require hundreds of days of painstaking labor; no element of costume creation is automated.
On Mardi Gras Day, Super Sunday, St. Joseph’s Day, and a select few other special occasions, the “chiefs” and their tribes parade through the city, chanting, shouting and challenging each other to determine who is “the prettiest.”
There’s a ton more background on this fascinating subject at the Backstreet Cultural Museum in the historic Tremé neighborhood.
Tennessee Williams Literary Festival
Wednesday-Sunday, March 26-30, 2025
Writers have always been drawn to New Orleans. Few cities in America (or the world, really), can match this town for its atmosphere, sense of place, or penchant for fun and pathos (all good elements of a writing life).
The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival celebrates this city’s love affair with the written word, as well as writers’ love affair with New Orleans. Notable authors will be in attendance, hosting seminars, workshops, and lectures.
Plus, this being the Tennessee Williams Festival, there is, of course, a “Stella” shouting contest, which involves folks screaming out the iconic scene from A Streetcar Named Desire to appreciative crowds on Jackson Square. The program will also include a scholar conference, walking tours, masterclasses, theater, and more.
Note that on Friday-Sunday, March 28-30, 2025, the city will also host the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival, an alternative literary event that celebrates LGBTQ+ authors. The three-day festival will include panel discussions and a fair amount of networking opportunities between authors, editors, and publishers.
Congo Square Rhythms Festival
Saturday-Sunday, 2025 dates TBA
The musical heritage of New Orleans follows a line that can be traced all the way back to Africa, where the black diaspora begins. The music of that continent evolved here and in the Caribbean, influenced by Europe and indigenous music, into the forms and traditions that are the core of today’s New Orleans sound.
This vital legacy is celebrated in Armstrong Park, on the grounds of Congo Square, where local slaves were once permitted to practice the musical traditions of Africa and the Caribbean. Congo Square Rhythms Festival is a celebration of global and local music, and offers both amazing food and a fantastic lineup of music. The festival kickoff concert is held typically on Friday.
Presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the festival features Mardi Gras Indians, African dance, brass bands, soul-funk, as well as indigenous music of Honduras, and highlife from West Africa. The large art market and a Soul Food Court complete the experience.
Don’t miss one of the fest’s highlights, the Mardi Gras Indian “battle” — when the tribes gather in the center of the square, plus the festival’s largest to date assemblage of New Orleans-based African dance troupes (they typically perform on Sunday).
Freret Street Festival
Saturday, May 3, 2025
This free neighborhood festival has been growing since the mid-1990s, with about 200 vendors participating and three music stages.
Hogs for the Cause
Friday-Saturday, April 4-5, 2025
April starts with a popular event called Hogs for the Cause, a meat-centric annual fundraiser for pediatric brain cancer held at the UNO Lakefront Arena. Dozens of barbecue chefs compete in seven categories, including fan favorite, whole hog, ribs, and sauce. Check the event’s website for this year’s music lineup and early-bird ticket deals.
French Quarter Fest
Thursday-Sunday, April 10-13, 2025
Next up is the immensely popular and free French Quarter Fest. Held on the second weekend of April, it’s been around for almost 40 years, featuring the best the city has to offer in food and drinks, and several stages of non-stop live music. In the past years, you could dance in the streets of the French Quarter to Kermit Ruffins & the Barbeque Swingers, Galactic, Rebirth Brass Band, Irma Thomas, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and many more top-notch acts. Expect an excellent lineup this year as well.
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Thursday-Sunday, April 24 – May 4, 2025
The last weekend of April and the first weekend of May mark one of the biggest, most anticipated, and always well-attended events this side of Mississippi. Visitors from all over the world flock to the Fairgrounds for the food and the music of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which is celebrating over 50 years of successful and exciting existence. The music is the focal point, of course, but don’t miss the second lines, the art vendors, and the local food favorites like Crawfish Monica and cochon de lait po-boys.
Hancock Whitney Zoo-To-Do
Friday, May 2, 2025
Late spring also brings us Whitney Zoo to Do, an annual fundraiser for the Audubon Nature Institute and the chicest gala in town. It’s held on the Zoo’s grounds and features live music, a silent auction, and food and cocktails from dozens of the best restaurants and bars in the city.
Bayou Boogaloo
Friday-Sunday, May 16-18, 2025
This Mid-City-based music and food festival is held on the banks of Bayou St. John over the third weekend of May. Bayou Boogaloo grew from the post-Katrina scrappy little neighborhood festival to a four-stage, multiple-vendor extravaganza. Since its inception in 2006, the festival now draws upwards of 35,000 people and has become as much a fixture on the festival calendar as its Mid-City neighbor, Jazz Fest, and the city’s street-party season opener, French Quarter Fest.
Head to the sprawling, picturesque banks of Bayou St. John between Dumaine Streets and Lafitte Avenue to sample some of the best food New Orleans has to offer from the likes of Boswell’s Jamaican Grill and Ajun Cajun plus adult beverages from Pal’s and others. The fest’s bucolic setting gives the three-day festival its own unique character. And, just like in the previous years, the festival is kid-friendly (no pets, please), and has a stellar lineup of live music on three stages, including the best of the brass bands, zydeco, Mardi Gras Indians, and other incredible New Orleans and Louisiana acts.
Greek Fest
Friday-Sunday, May 23-25, 2025
Greek Fest typically takes place over the Memorial Day weekend at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (1200 Allen Toussaint Blvd.). This annual tradition beloved by locals is worth the trip to Lakeview for its food, music, cooking demos, Hellenic dance performances, and even a toga contest. Expect traditional Greek music featuring bouzouki guitar, dancers in traditional costumes, and kid activities. Greek staples like souvlaki, baklava, spanakopita, and gyro will be served (day and weekend passes available).
As you can see, the spring season in New Orleans is loaded with activities and events, and with the right planning and the willingness to eat and dance with gusto, you can have the best time the city has to offer!
New Orleans Pride Fest
Thursday-Monday, June 5-9, 2025
New Orleans Pride is a large LGBTQ+ event that stretches over five days and includes shows, dance parties, and a parade on Saturday. The parade kicks off at the Phoenix bar at 6 p.m.
New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
Wednesday-Sunday, June 11-15, 2025
In its 33rd year in 2025, the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience (NOWFE) is a smorgasbord of food and wine tastings, tours, master classes, and the annual champagne-soaked burlesque brunch. Each year, hundreds of wineries and restaurants participate, offering menus featuring local flavors and innovative new creations inspired by diverse cuisines. Top chefs from around the city create unique culinary experiences, so much so that the event regularly makes a few national “best of” festival lists. The organization behind this popular event is a nonprofit that donates 100% of its proceeds to beneficiaries ranging from food banks to culinary schools. You can see all the events and get tickets online.
French Market Creole Tomato Festival
Saturday-Sunday, June 14-15, 2025
Celebrating its 39th year in 2025, the festival features live music at the market and in Dutch Alley, kids’ activities, and a second line. There are cooking demos in addition to an extensive menu of Creole tomatoes incorporated into gelato, crepes, crawfish pies — you name it. Of course, you can also get Creole tomatoes from the participating farm stands.
Kick off the Creole Tomato Festival with the Ripe & Ready second line. It’s open to all, and you’re encouraged to wear “your favorite tomato attire.” The festival is spread out between the tents and the stages located at the Farmers Market, the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint (this one is indoors), and Dutch Alley. The live music schedule never disappoints.
Father’s Day
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Though technically it’s not a festival, you can make it your own by honoring your dad! Take your dad to brunch, a museum, or just a walk at the Riverfront. Make your reservation soon, and enjoy the good food and fun this city has to offer!
Restaurant Week New Orleans
Monday-Sunday, 2025 dates TBA
During this time, you can enjoy multi-course, special menus and dining deals in numerous participating restaurants, from upscale Creole eateries to neighborhood bistros. Keep up with this year’s list of participating restaurants and their menus, and don’t miss a chance to try a new spot or revisit your favorite.
Are you visiting New Orleans this spring?
Take advantage of Alder Hotel’s specials, group rates, and best-rate guarantee for greater savings to spend on New Orleans famous cuisine and enjoy everything this magnificent city has to offer. Reserve your room today!
Also, consider booking a guided tour of the famous St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to experience the hauntingly beautiful past of New Orleans. And, for easy, informative sightseeing, we recommend the City Sightseeing New Orleans city tour on the open-top, double-decker bus. It runs every 30 minutes through the Garden District, French Quarter, and CBD. You can hop on and off anytime!
Happy spring!