If there are three things New Orleans is known for, it’s music, Mardi Gras and seafood.
Since its inception on Fulton Street, and after subsequent moves to Lafayette Square, Woldenburg Park and now the City Park Festival Grounds, the Louisiana Seafood Festival has been making strides to combine the best two out of three.
Taking place from Oct. 10-12 this year, the festival has made an effort to promote two of the things the Crescent City does best. Hosted by Louisiana Seafood, a government organization in charge of promoting the Louisiana seafood industry, all of the festival’s proceeds perennially go toward funding the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation, a non-profit that bases its love for charity on its love for food.
LHF describes the festival as a concerted effort to share New Orleans’ fantastic seafood and live music scene with the community.
Along with its standard practices like donations to community centers and children’s museums, the foundation is notable for its unique attention to the culinary arts, which also includes cooking classes for underprivileged children throughout the state.
With these continuing and expanding events come a myriad of opportunities for LHF to give back.
“Attendance has grown from 5,000 people to 45,000 people since 2007,” said Tony Abadie, event chair for the festival and LHF vice president.
“Our anticipated attendance for 2014 is 60,000 people, for a growth of 25 percent over 2013,” he added.
And while festivalgoers flock for the food, just as many come for the music, a factor Abadie mentioned as a prime reason for the predicted spike in attendance this year.
This year’s performers include New Orleans-based rock group Flow Tribe, who played at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2013. Additionally, fellow South Louisiana favorites Marc Broussard, who hails from Carencro, and Benjy Davis, founder of The Benjy Davis Project, will be performing.
In addition to the various food and drink booths, the festival has several new offerings for its attendees this year, including an entirely revamped “Beer Garden,” with a wide array of brews from some Louisiana breweries.
The festival will also be unveiling the WWL-TV Cooking Pavillion, in which some of the top local chefs, including John Besh, share their secrets to their favorite seafood dishes while cooking the dishes on stage.
A Kid’s Tent, for the festival’s younger patrons, as well as an Arts Village, where local artists proudly display their wares for both display and sale, are also slated to feature prominently at this year’s event.
Abadie concluded by saying that “with growth, comes additional funding to support our charity mission in the community.”