NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – French Quarter Festival opened Thursday with four days of free live music across more than 20 stages in the French Quarter, drawing visitors from across the country and giving local musicians, students and vendors a major stage in the heart of New Orleans. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, with the opening parade beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Festival organizers said this year’s event features more than 300 musicians and more than 70 food and beverage vendors, as crowds carrying folding chairs and suitcases moved through downtown Thursday morning. New Orleans and Company said hotel occupancy was above 90%, signaling a strong start to a stretch of festival weekends in the city.

“Lots of good music,” Daniel Barth, visiting from California, said. “It’s really the local bands and musicians who are being featured here.”

Barth said he and his wife were back for their third French Quarter Fest and planned to spend as much time eating as listening.

“We started with fried catfish and shrimp last night,” Barth said. “We’ll get a little bit of everything. We’ll get a po’ boy, red beans and rice.”

Diane Anderson, visiting from Minnesota, said the festival’s free admission helps make the trip worthwhile.

“It would be hard to fly here, get a hotel and pay some entrance fees for tickets,” Anderson said.

Alice Glenn, executive vice president of New Orleans and Company, said the crowds bring money into hotels, restaurants, venues and transportation services across the city.

“They’re in the hotels, that’s revenue direct to the city,” Glenn said. “Also, that’s going to our venues after the event, going to our restaurants, using transportation. All the services that residents rely on for their livelihood.”

The festival also highlights young musicians. Loyola University is sponsoring the Loyola Esplanade and Shade stage for the third year at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at Esplanade Avenue and the river.

Jonathan McHugh, a professor at Loyola, said the partnership helps students gain real-world experience both onstage and behind the scenes.

“The ability to get these students up on the stage, plus we have a lot of students working at the French Quarter Festival on many different levels,” McHugh said.

McHugh said Loyola created Wolf Moon Entertainment to give students hands-on training in live sound, record production, music library management and merchandise. Student performances are scheduled Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The festival also showcases the next generation of New Orleans music families.

Michael Mullins, a former Loyola student, is set to perform Friday with the New Orleans Legacy Coalition, a group made up of second-generation New Orleans musicians whose parents built careers in the city’s music scene.

“All of our parents have been sort of steeped in the culture of played music in the city for their whole careers,” Mullins said. “And we’ve all kind of been steeped in it ourselves. We grew up listening to a lot of the same stuff.”

Mullins said the group plays New Orleans funk and soul. His father is a member of Bonerama.

“My dad’s the reason I play music,” Mullins said. “This is my favorite, personally. This is the first music festival I have my earliest music memories. My earliest live music memories. This is where I saw my dad play for the first time and knew there’s something magical about it.”

The New Orleans Legacy Coalition is scheduled to perform Friday at 1:55 p.m. on the Esplanade and Shade stage.

French Quarter Festival also expanded this year with new activity in Crescent Park and added stages there. Organizers have said the 2026 festival includes new riverfront space and expanded programming, with PJ Morton among this year’s top performers.

For locals such as Courtney Kent, the festival remains a chance to see the city through visitors’ eyes.

“My family is here from Ohio and I’m going to have them try the alligator cheesecake,” Kent said. “You know, when you have people from out of town, you see everything from their eyes. It’s kind of magical.”

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