Unlike other festivals that are held on the same date every year or rotate around certain weekends, the festival that celebrates the quintessential New Orleans sandwich is scheduled on a Sunday in November when the Saints are off. So this year, it’s this Sunday, November 24.
The festival has gone through some growing pains, the good kind, as it seeks to accommodate the masses seeking substance. This year, a new stage, the Saloon stage, will be inside the Maple Leaf Bar. The main stage will be at Eagle St. on the Jefferson Parish end of Oak Street.
I am most excited about the Saloon stage because they have an incredible schedule. Things kick off bright and early with a 12 noon set by Alexis & the Samurai. Eric Johanson follows at 2 PM. The day winds down with Chris Mulé & the Perpetrators at 4 PM and Terence Higgins’ Swampgrease at 6 PM.
The main stage will feature Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes at 10:30 AM (!!) and a Mexican rock band, Pilaseca, at noon. The rest of the lineup reads like a Oak Street wish list—Los Po Boy Citos, Flow Tribe, and the Rebirth Brass Band.
In case that’s not enough music, there will be a brass band stage at Leonidas and Oak!
