Aside from enjoying 250 hours of FREE and local music and dining on legendary New Orleans’ cuisine, there are a lot of special event that take place during French Quarter Fest.

Friday, April 17, 2009 | Saturday, April 18, 2009 | Sunday, April 19, 2009

SPECIAL EVENTS FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2009

• 8am to 6pm - Pirates Alley Juried Art Show – presented by the New Orleans Art Association; over 100 artists displaying original fine art in Pirates Alley, Pere Antoine Alley, Cabildo Alley and Royal Street
  
  
• 11am to 3pm (last tours begin at 2pm) - Open Tours of the Hermann-Grima House – 820 St. Louis, and Gallier House – 1132 Royal
  
  
• 2pm to 4pm - Patio Planters Historic Courtyard Self-Guided Tours – Begins at 1129 Bourbon Street
  
  
• 12noon - ACME World Championship Oyster Eating Competition…and shucking too! – Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint
  
  
• 11am to 6pm - Children’s Headquarters on the riverfront plaza at Audubon Aquarium – face painting, nature activities, tai chi and karate, Audubon Zoo’s giant dinosaur, ‘Got Milk?’ milk mustaches, museum activities for kids, healthy kids activities, music on the Kids’ Stage, family fun entertainment, & more
  
  
• 5:30pm to 7pm - Kamal’s (Fi Ya Ya Mardi Gras Indians) drum making circle in the Kid’s area – Audubon Aquarium Plaza – 12noon to 4pm – Battle of the Bands – traditional jazz bands compete in a rousing playoff – 400 block of Royal
  
  
• 7:30pm - ‘Cabildo’ Opera at the Cabildo – Music @ Madewood & Opera Vista present an hour-long opera about pirates, the Battle of New Orleans & a mysterious lady who inspires victory. Amy Beach’s 1932 opera about pirate Pierre Lafitte’s imprisonment. Courtyard of the Cabildo


• 13th Annual New Orleans International Music Colloquim, featuring academic presentations on the history of New Orleans music – Jazz National Park Visitors Center, 916 N. Peters

IMPROVISING:

• 10:00 – In the Cup: A Day Spent with the Mardi Gras Indians – Jon Pult relates Carnival Day 1989 spent roaming the streets with, and listening to, members of the Wild Magnolias
  
  
• 11:00 Improvisation on Record – Dan Meyer will illustrate improvisation on early Jazz recordings by comparing the music on alternate takes of the same piece
  
  
• 12:00 – The Danny Barker Legacy – Guitarist Esquizito, aka Eric Perez, will demonstrate the story-telling, myth-creating, and musical sides of guitarist and raconteur Danny Barker
  
  
• 1:00 – The Enigmatic Bolden Band Photograph – Justin Winston presents his analysis of the mysteries of the Buddy Bolden Band photograph.
  
  
• 2:00 – Before and After the First Jazz Record – George Schmidt, accompanied by Dan Meyer, will examine bassist “Red” Mackie’s comments that recorded jazz sounds and destroyed the creative variety of earlier New Orleans music
  
  
• 3:00 German Influences on New Orleans Music – Dr. Jack Stewart will show what effect the U.S.’s largest immigrant group had on New Orleans
  
  
• 4:00 – New Orleans Dance in the 1930s – Sue Fischer, Heidi Rosenau, and Joe McGlynn will demonstrate what and how New Orleanians were doingon the dance floor
  
  

***All special events are subject to change