Now that I've gone through the music, I figured I'd share the people, food, and city. Though the next couple of pictures are really from a music group, I included them in "people" because they are a people. Last year I saw the Mardis Gras Indians perform and really just thought they were a fun family band. However, I was missing a lot of the story. Apparently the Mardis Gras Indians are real tribes of African Americans spread throughout New Orleans. They originiated in the mid 19th century circumventing some of the worst racial segregation laws by representing themselves as Indians. It's really interesting and you can read more here.
Click the link below for more photos!
As I'm primarily a people photographer (I can't take a landscape photo to save my life), I figured it would be fun to get some random candids of people at the fest. Here are a few.
And now onto the food. One of the other best things about Jazzfest (there are many "best" things about Jazzfest) is the food! There's not a hot dog or burger in sight. However, while there I did eat: crawfish bread, red beans and rice, crawfish monica, white chocolate bread pudding, indian tacos, strawberry shortcake, and a couple of specialty teas. I wish I had room for more! Sadly I didn't think to take pics of everything I ate, but I did come away with these two photos.
Beignets:
Boiled crawfish:
And as a bonus- my favorite photo of the weekend. Keri being eaten by a crawfish.
Friday we took the day off of Jazzfest and explored New Orleans. Though not at the top of everyone's list, I wanted to see the 9th Ward as I've heard it's still pretty desolate due to natives not being able to return to the city. Driving around there with my tour guide, Caroline we were able to see some of the neighborhoods that still haven't been rebuilt. Here are a couple of photos of some houses still boarded up. I didn't really want to get out and walk around, so the 9th Ward photos are limited. The spraypaint code on the first two photos is from the national guard to note when they checked the houses after the floodwaters subsided.
After the 9th Ward, we walk around the French Quarter and I snapped these photos.
And now the final picture is accompanied by an uplifting story Caroline told us. This statue of Jesus is in a courtyard of a church in the French Quarter. She said before Katrina made landfall, the expected path of the eye of the hurricane was to travel directly down Canal street and destroy downtown and the French Quarter. Apparently Katrina changed her path and although nearly drowned the city, downtown was relatively safe. While Hurricane Katrina did not affect the French Quarter as profoundly as other parts of New Orleans, the high winds managed to displace two large oak trees in St. Anthony's Garden behind the Cathedral. The trees dislodged thirty feet of ornamental gate, while the nearby marble statue of Jesus Christ lost only a forefinger and a thumb. So, the thought is that Jesus "flicked" the Hurricane away from the French Quarter. Sadly I didn't have a zoom lens with me to get close enough, you can see someone else's photo of Jesus's hands here.
