Special Events & Weekly Happenings
Curated by Locals for Quarter Lovers Everywhere
Our list of special French Quarter events is curated by local insiders and updated weekly!
Photo: River Fest by Melanie Cole for FQJ. Find full details on our curated FQ Events page! 
Regularly scheduled French Quarter events in our Cultural Corridor – tours, talks, live music performances, cooking demos & more. They’re categorized and sorted by day of the week – and there’s an interactive map too!
Photo: Wanda Rouzan at the New Orleans Jazz MuseumOctober 2026
The Forgotten Mexican Roots of New Orleans Jazz
A Mexican Cavalry band performing for the 1884 - 1885 World’s Exposition in New Orleans created a sensation, but their influence can still be heard in our music today.
– by Baylee Badawy
Street trees in the Vieux Carré: Meet a few of our hardy neighbors that survive – and even thrive – in the dense urban fabric of the French Quarter.
– by Helen Sierminski
As a child, she dreamed of being an artist; now, after six decades as a Jackson Square fixture, she’s still finding time to dream.
– by Michael J. Warner
It was a dark and stormy night, with creatures from the murky marshes parading through the Quarter, heralding the Halloween season.
- photos by Melanie Cole
Join Our Avid Readers!
We send out a twice – monthly email with direct links to new stories so you never have to miss one. Subscribe below! We share your info with no one.
photo: Paradegoers at Krewe of Boo parade 2025, photo by Ellis Anderson
Your Readers’ Circle memberships help us offer the authentic goodness of New Orleans around the world – firewall-free!
September 2026
A new exhibit and book, “Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions,” celebrates “da real New Oyunz cultcha” and the man who drew it.
– by Doug Brantley
Two newer parades – one led by an ancient alpine Yuletide creature and the other by a shaggy swamp monster – are helping lead the way in sustainability, accessibility and creativity.
– by Matt Sheen
The visitor count thins and locals flee whenever possible, but summer in New Orleans offers up memorable family times – even if “the humidity slaps you in the face like a screen door so hard you swear you can hear the hinge.”
– by Elisa Cool Murphy
A parade through Jackson Square and along the river leads to a day of music at the New Orleans Jazz Museum each year for River Fest.
- photos by Melanie Cole
For more than half a century, the city’s arts conservatory has been fostering local talents and bringing “wildest dreams” to life.
– by Doug Brantley
Bogdan Mynka’s meteoric rise from guest residency to executive director at the Marigny Opera House has reinforced his commitment to serve the city that’s embraced him.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Which was hotter – the weather or the costumes? Thousands lined the streets of the French Quarter to see the 54th edition of this ribald parade.
- photos by Cheryl Gerber
“We drank because they told us we couldn’t…” Undeterred by a constitutional amendment, the threat of arrest, or the very real possibility of drinking bootlegged poison, the French Quarter’s party roared on throughout the 1920s.
– by John Shelton Reed
August 2026
Stories, Photo Features & Quarter Kaleidoscope
Dolly Parton may have passed, but 700 New Orleans women in the Krewe of Dolly will carry on her legacy by wearing big wigs, glittering rhinestones – and giving books to thousands of children.
– by Karla Marie “Karlita” Cochran
The 4th annual family-friendly parade by Krewe du Fool included a giant puppet show, a pageant, a parade along the riverfront and a costume contest – all to benefit the Audubon Institute Education Department.
- photos by Karla Marie “Karlita” Cochran
Frank Perez: 1968 - 2026
Frank’s stories were always a heavy pour – his writing could quickly intoxicate listeners and readers, bringing on a kind of double vision where suddenly, the past existed alongside the present.
– by Ellis Anderson
The beloved historic house museum and gardens welcomed the neighborhood to an evening birthday bash, offering dozens of cakes, a cake walk, and dancing in the streets.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
Did the charms cast to protect her as a child in the Tremé help save her life more than thirty years later when she met a serial killer?
~ by Denise Augustine
Led by heritage and history, a young New Orleanian comes of age in the Vieux Carré, developing a lifelong love of the French language.
~ by Scott Bazenet-Tilton
More than 125 years have passed since Joey DiFatta’s ancestors found their first home on Bourbon Street - only a block from where he lives now.
~ by Joey DiFatta
This culture bearer from the cradle grew up in the shadow of “some of the coolest cats around.”
~ by Eric Burt
The French Quarter’s most popular art event of the year takes place in August - yet the heat didn’t phase regional art lovers who turned up in droves.
- photos by Shawn Fink and Ellis Anderson
A young Marine on leave visits New Orleans and winds up at the Wrong Place – only to find the city is exactly the right place.
~ by Amzie Adams
July 2026
Stories & Photo Features
Cindy Brennan, the managing partner of one of New Orleans’ favorite restaurants, reflects on family, hospitality, and nearly 50 years of success.
– by Kim Ranjbar
These risqué French Quarter balls attracted high-society flappers, reveling artists and writers, and even New Orleans blue bloods – all ignoring Prohibition and dancing until “Dawn streaked the dove-colored sky with lipstick-reddened finger.”
– by John Shelton Reed
From 1968 - 1974, Darlene Fife and Robert Head published NOLA Express, an underground paper that fought for the end of the Vietnam War and free speech. In this 1990s interview with Fife, she reflects on those turbulent years in the French Quarter.
– by Dennis Formento
With more than twenty museums and cultural attractions packed into a compact area, the French Quarter is one of America's most walkable, culturally rewarding, and visually captivating neighborhoods.
– by Ellis Anderson
The popular French Quarter artwalk has evolved into a major midsummer event, attracting people from across the greater New Orleans area – and the Gulf South.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Urban nature tours given by this Marigny naturalist celebrate the native plants, trees and wildlife living among us – inspiring some to make room for more.
– by Doug Brantley
In this first-time event, ten museums in the Quarter’s cultural corridor extended hours and offered special activities, welcoming hundreds of enchanted visitors.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
In the mid-1960s, a young Southern Baptist pastor moves to the French Quarter, becomes King of the Hippies and helps transform New Orleans mask-making into an art form.
— by Laura Guccione
June 2026
Stories & Photo Features
In the Roaring ‘20s, the French Quarter became an incubator for women exercising more than just their newly won right to vote.
– by John Shelton Reed
“American Revolution: The Augmented Exhibition” offers an innovative, in-depth recount of the nation’s fight for independence, shining new light on Louisiana’s contributions.
– by Doug Brantley
A New Orleans vocalist tells three stories to show how music and the Quarter work magic together, conjuring up the unexpected – and the miraculous.
~ by Alicia Renee aka Blue Eyes
New Orleans was the first port-o-call for the flotilla of seven tall ships and five naval vessels celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
Corporations, churches, activists and marching clubs joined hands to bring on the annual Pride Parade, cheered by thousands as they danced through the Quarter.
- photos by Shawn Fink
The annual event that raises awareness about the vulnerability of cyclists on roadways takes place in cities all over the world, but we’re betting the New Orleans version is the most colorful.
- photos by Melanie Cole
A new festival celebrating legendary New Orleans writer Lafcadio Hearn is the brainchild of Amy Kirk Duvoisin, founder of the beloved Joan of Arc Parade.
– by Kim Ranjbar
LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana opened a new French Quarter exhibition space this spring, offering a comprehensive – and fascinating - overview of Queer history in New Orleans.
– by Kim Ranjbar
From the opening second line parade to the last dances in the French Market, this year’s 40th anniversary celebration fest the biggest and the best. And definitely the tastiest!
- photos by Ellis Anderson
Old friends and French Quarter neighbors gathered to celebrate the Stanford-educated poet who lived an unusual life filled with words and wandering.
– by Cheryl Gerber
Reader Favorites
from our archives
The venerable New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was inspired by two earlier fests - one in 1965 and a much larger event in 1968 – yet, the timing couldn’t have been worse for either. Peek behind the curtain for the backstories.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
Royal Street phenom Christian Davenport, otherwise known as “Cubs the Poet”, finds a permanent space for his art – and his trusty typewriter – in the Shops at the Upper Pontalba.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Meet the man who helped put the historic Faubourg Marigny neighborhood on the map – and is working still to keep it there.
– by Doug Brantley
Ten years after Louisiana’s Jim Crow laws led Armstrong to swear off performing in New Orleans, a determined committee from the city’s nascent jazz museum convinced him to return for a ground-breaking concert – one that helped pave the way for change.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
Bridging the business and art worlds, the ArtEgg Studios founder provides “a creative space for creative people.”
– by Doug Brantley
The French Quarter offers a blueprint for sustainability: timeless design always outshines transient trends. On Earth Day, we explore innovations to dazzle our wardrobes and make a positive impact.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
The Kentucky Derby-winning racehorse trainer isn’t one to gamble, but he’s all in on French Quarter life.
– by Doug Brantley
An educational nonprofit settles into a new home in the French Quarter, where it’s raising awareness on sustainability – and offering fun, colorful solutions through the art of sewing.
– by Kim Ranjbar
The French Quarter’s new Riverfront Park opened on April 7th, to the delight of locals, visitors, city officials, neighborhood activists, and the project team.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
The backstory of the new Riverfront Park – and the behind-the-scenes community advocates who never gave up. A story first published in April, 2024.
– by Frank Perez
The French Quarter’s newest museum examines the city’s notorious red-light district through an entrepreneurial eye.
– by Doug Brantley
This extraordinary online library – containing photographs, drawings and records of ownership of every French Quarter building – has received a show-stopping makeover.
- by John S. Sledge
The co-owner of Mona Lisa Restaurant on Royal recounts how he and husband Tom Moore took over the reins of the beloved neighborhood eatery in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
– by Farrow Stephenson
A new book by writer Dalt Wonk and photographer Josephine Sacabo unflinchingly documents a five-decade love affair between the two artists and their abiding passion for New Orleans.
– by Richard Goodman
Over the past 30 years, this casual neighborhood fixture has quietly become a French Quarter classic by offering a distinctive Creole/Italian menu, farm to table ingredients, a great wine list – and an unbeatable ambiance.
Preserving the Narrative at The Celestine
A classic French Quarter building with a storied past has been recreated into an alluring boutique hotel – named after one of its historic owners, Celestine Peychaud.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Founded in 2012, this powerhouse organization works to bring New Orleans’ queer history out of the closet and into the open.
– by Doug Brantley
photo above by Owen Murphy and part of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana
A journalist turned buggy driver reflects on the people who live in his unusual workplace - a combination historic museum, adult amusement park, and a residential neighborhood.
– by Mark Orfila
A visionary young doctor purchases a derelict historic building in 1996 and spends the next decade transforming it into one of the most stately homes in the French Quarter.
– by Karen Hinton
The French Quarter erupted with spontaneous joy – and of course, music – as a record-breaking ten inches of powdery snow fell on New Orleans on January 21st.
- album by Shawn Fink + more
Fire is the mortal enemy of the city's oldest neighborhood, but in the case of the 1988 Cabildo inferno, dedicated preservationists prevailed in the end.
- by Michael Warner
In 1980 and again in 1983, a Mobile, Ala. writer named Frank Daugherty interviewed Thelma Ducoing Toole, mother of the late John Kennedy Toole, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Confederacy of Dunces. The lions’ share of the material and Frank’s photos have never before been published.
- interview and photographs by Frank Daugherty
Follow Alessandrini's significant public works along the river and through the Quarter, then visit with the artist in his Howard Avenue studio.
- by Saskia Ozols
A look at the famous playwright's complex and lifelong relationship with the neighborhood where he brought "A Streetcar Named Desire" into being.
- by Richard Goodman
Was the matronly New Orleans stenographer who founded a French Quarter temple the guru everyone in the 1960s was seeking? At least one follower still believes.
- by Michael Warner
Ride along with this award-winning writer to learn a few of the everyday challenges - and unexpected rewards - of making a living as a French Quarter pedicabber.
- by Andrew Cominelli
In the Roaring ‘20s, feisty Uptown socialite Martha Westfeldt opens a French Quarter bookstore that becomes Bohemia Central.
- by Michael Warner
The rise of homelessness during the pandemic reminds a French Quarter writer of a luckless time in her youth, when a spontaneous act of generosity turned the tide.
– by Ellis Anderson
Like to become a sponsor? Contact us.
Join our Readers’ Circle.
Have a story idea? Are you a writer with a pitch? Email us.