There are hundreds of events happening every week in New Orleans. Ever wish for a dedicated list of happenings just in the French Quarter and surrounding neighborhoods? Curated by local insiders?
Wishes come true. Our event page is updated weekly and makes planning easy for neighborhood residents, locals, and savvy visitors.
photo: Riverfest 2023, by Melanie Cole. See our events page here for other FQ events! 
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image by Scott Saltzman
A diminutive Spanish Colonial cottage demolished around 1917 played a major role in the development of French Quarter historic preservation. This is the first piece in our new FQJ series, “Preservation Chronicles.”
– by James G. Derbes
What began in 1978 as the first gay bookstore in the South is still thriving as Frenchmen Art & Books thanks to four nurturing owners – including the late Otis Fennell.
– by Frank Perez
artwork above by Stephanie Reed
The 2024 French Quarter Festival played, sang and danced its way through four glorious days of sunshine to the delight of visitors and locals alike.
- photos by Scott Saltzman, Melanie Cole and Gregg Martel
As its name suggests, this company is all about superlatives: Owner Bon Ruggles explains how she’s going about redefining the New Orleans walking tour industry.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Unrelenting advocacy over two abandoned wharf sites scores what appears to be a win for New Orleans residents while helping protect two of the most fragile neighborhoods in the country: the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny.
– by Frank Perez
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 music-loving French Quarter newcomer becomes the ultimate good neighbor when he sponsors a new concert series for the house museum next door.
– by Ellis Anderson
Occasional Wife founder Kay Morrison and two of her veteran organizers share favorite pointers for simplifying life in historic homes.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
Each year, more French Quarter parade-goers costume in theme and this year’s Easter Day marathon of parades was no exception. We captured some of our favorite Easter regalia in this album!
- photos by Ellis Anderson and Melanie Cole
The day starts early with a small celebration of Ostara, followed in quick succession by the Historic French Quarter Easter Parade, the French Quarter Easter Parade and ending with the rollicking Gay Easter Parade.
- photos by Melanie Cole and Ellis Anderson
A special ops Marine, itinerant cook, truck driver and cowboy: The youthful journeys of this award-winning chef shaped a man who’s still undaunted by challenges – and always up for a new adventure.
– by Kim Ranjbar and Ellis Anderson
The luck of the Irish prevailed and the persistent rains stopped before the shenanigans of this annual parade began.
- photos by Melanie Cole
Folks attending the three-day Danny Barker Banjo & Guitar Festival at the Jazz Museum this year had the happy option of popping over to the adjacent French Market on Saturday for a St. Joseph’s Day Celebration.
- photos by Melanie Cole and Ellis Anderson
With a gigantic rolling St. Joseph’s Day altar, reigning beauties, local dancing clubs and groups of tuxedo-clad men exchanging paper carnations and garters for kisses, the Italian-American St. Joseph’s Day Society has delighted more than five decades of parade-goers.
- photos by Melanie Cole
French Quarter visitors and locals alike can savor history, coffee – and of course, a large variety of Irish whiskeys – at this Emerald Isle oasis.
– by Dean M. Shapiro
A lavish new volume by John H. Lawrence celebrates an extraordinary collection of Louisiana images and the photographers who created them.
– by John S. Sledge
On the eve of Morning Call’s closing fifty years ago, a young writer joins a crowd of locals lining up to pay their respects - and savor one final cup of coffee.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
The award-winning poet talks about her new book, a vivid and evocative collection that explores the power of memory and the complex web of family ties.
– by Skye Jackson
On Mardi Gras day, the entire lower Quarter becomes a wildly spinning kaleidoscope of color and good cheer. The better and more inventive the costume, the higher one’s status for the day.
This Social Aid and Pleasure club focuses on the “social aid” part of their name, working year-round to feed the homeless and hungry.
– by Kim Ranjbar and Ellis Anderson
Barkus met Barbie this year with a “Pawsitively Pink” theme for the 2024 parade, which rambled through the French Quarter on what turned out to be absolutely the Best Day.
- photos by Andrew Simoneaux
On Lundi Gras, FQJ went behind the scenes in a historic French Quarter hideaway to hang with dozens of the beading-happy krewe getting ready for their annual day-long jaunt through the neighborhood.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
A xylophone player who visited New Orleans 40 years ago has become the impresario of Carnival costuming and founder of the Mardi Gras Museum – now in a new spacious location on North Rampart Street.
– by Dean M. Shapiro
A painter who has won national acclaim for his work that evolved in New Orleans moves to another legendary Southern city - but for how long is anyone’s guess.
-by Bogdan Mynka
Demonstrating exceptional stamina, the Krewe of Cork celebrates the world of wine – starting with a three-hour wine luncheon, then spreading all that good cheer through the streets of the French Quarter.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
King Patrick Van Hoorebeek's bacchanalian Krewe of Cork rolls into 2024 granting knighthood to their first female lieutenant in the organization's history.
-by Kim Ranjbar
Krewe du Vieux’s creativity elevates satire to a no-holds-barred art form – which is why their annual parade is one of the city’s most popular Mardi Gras traditions.
- photos by Scott Saltzman
Bohème is a relative newcomer to the Mardi Gras parade scene, but this year - only their fifth time marching – the absinthe-minded krewe danced its way into the “Don’t Miss” category of Carnival festivities.
- photos by Melanie Cole
Although the theme of this year’s Chewbacchus parade was “Nothing to See Here,” our album with 80+ photographs proves differently.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
The Mississippi coast plays host to authors from across the state and from nearby New Orleans, as the HOMEGROWN Writers’ Exchange creates a new literary nexus.
Above: A few of the New Orleans writers participating (clockwise from upper left), Ladee Hubbard, Katy Simpson Smith, Rien Fertel, Elizabeth Miki Brina
The Joan of Arc Project celebrates Joan’s January 6th birthday each year with a medieval procession marching merrily through the French Quarter on 12th Night. This year was the krewe’s own birthday - its Sweet Sixteenth.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
The unpublished memoir of San Nicholas reveals the tortured childhood he overcame to become a renowned Carnival costume designer.
– by Frank Perez
In the early 1970s, a fearless editor for a feisty French Quarter newspaper defends the historic neighborhood, taking inspiration from past preservation battles - both won and lost.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
A lifelong musician, this New Orleans native turned her performance career toward advocacy in the arts by specializing in entertainment law.
– by Kim Ranjbar
This park adjacent to the French Quarter is home to the legendary Congo Square and statues of New Orleans’ jazz greats, but a rarely noticed antique rose garden provides an unexpected delight.
– by Ellis Anderson
The venerable Patio Planters garden club uses proceeds from this annual home tour to help fund the beloved Jackson Square caroling event. This year, seven French Quarter houses, dating back to 1818, decked their halls to welcome visitors.
– photos by Melanie Cole
This annual fund-raiser for the New Orleans Jazz Museum is known for being one of the city’s most spectacular, and the 2023 gala was no exception.
- photos by Melanie Cole
The controversial 19th-century artist John James Audubon is best known for his Birds of America - but few have heard of a portrait commissioned by a mysterious New Orleans woman in 1821, a painting that’s been lost to history.
– by Richard Goodman
Two visionary designers, Katie Schmidt and Beatrix Bell, offer handmade, sustainable, fair trade goods on an artful block of Chartres Street.
-by Hallet Graham
In the 1960s, “Gypsy” Lou Webb and husband Jon Webb worked out of a tiny French Quarter apartment and published ground-breaking work by beat writers like Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller, Langston Hughes, and Jack Kerouac. Thirty years later, she looked back at her literary life in New Orleans.
-by Dennis Formento
While the new “public safety” cameras may lend a dismaying dystopian look to the city’s oldest neighborhood, Vieux Carré residents and businesses are hopeful they’ll help deter crime.
- by Frank Perez and Ellis Anderson
In 1920, the last in a line of French Quarter forgerons put down their hammers, never again to create the wonderfully detailed wrought iron fences and balconies of New Orleans.
– by Michael Warner
A new book by Richard Campanella details the soggy saga of a city built on a deltaic plain, sandwiched between the continent’s largest river on one side and a 1.5 trillion-gallon lake on the other.
– by John S. Sledge
Temperature drops and a restrained midweek Halloween date didn’t deter throngs of people from gathering for the 25th annual VOODOOFEST, a free day-long event offering an educational entree into the Voodoo religion.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
Marie Laveau’s tomb was one of the first to be restored in a unique initiative that cares for New Orleans’ fabled Cities of the Dead.
– by Reda Wigle
Brought up with the traditions of his musical family, drummer Glen Finister Andrews is equally at home playing in the French Quarter streets and iconic venues like Preservation Hall.
– by Karen Lozinski
A new traveling exhibit, currently at the TEP Center through November 12th, brings on both memories and reflections for a New Orleans writer.
– by Juyanne James
A smoking volcano ignites at a concert, proving the old adage: If at first you don’t succeed, throw away all the evidence that you tried.
– by Nan Parati, photos by Scott Saltzman
A church that began as a seamen’s ministry in 1846 has a new mission now – and a newly renovated place to serve the surrounding communities.
- story by Bethany Bultman
When she was only 19, Christiane Engeran began her culinary career with Susan Spicer at Bayona. Now, nearly three decades later, she’s creating her own specialties and leading the kitchen as Chef de cuisine.
–by Kim Ranjbar
In the ‘70s, a young journalist writing for a small New Orleans newspaper in the French Quarter broke some of the city’s most important stories.
– by Frank Perez
In the ‘70s, a young journalist writing for a small French Quarter newspaper broke one of the city’s most startling stories and helped organize one of the first gay protests in the South.
– by Frank Perez
This story includes a series of never-before-published images of the 1977 rally by Owen Murphy.
A move to establish a French Quarter Bohemian colony in 1920 eventually led to the Jackson Square fence becoming one of the world’s most beloved art galleries.
– by Michael Warner
After 25 years on the street that is its namesake, a classic French Quarter bookstore moves into a spacious corner location, steps from Jackson Square.
– by Christopher Louis Romaguera
Longtime patrons of the venerable establishment will find very few changes after eight years of ownership by noted restauranteur Ralph Brennan.
– by Angelique LaCour
The longtime executive director of Jazz Fest, Quint Davis takes listeners behind the scenes in this candid – and laughter-filled – podcast interview.
– interview by Nan Parati, Welcome to Nanlandia podcast
– photos by Scott Saltzman
This plein air watercolorist opened her first brick and mortar studio on Chartres Street in late 2021, helping build her reputation – and providing delightful subject matter right outside the door.
-By Angelique LaCour
After living in New Orleans for more than a decade, a writer who has moved away gets “all funny” when he returns to visit.
-by Richard Goodman
In this new book, amble through 1850s New Orleans with an itinerant journalist who would become one of the country’s most beloved poets.
— by John Sledge
Louisiana’s tri-millennial Native history and culture is reflected in this name, part of a common indigenous language used for trading throughout the lower Mississippi region.
— by Frank Perez
The style of these two powerhouse artists showing in the French Quarter may be very different, yet there are some important similarities – including strong connections with New Orleans culture.
— By Saskia Ozols
A haven for free-thinkers in the mid-60s, the Esplanade Avenue coffee house broke racial barriers of the day – and paid a price.
— By Mary Rickard
Visit Saint John on Decatur Street for a taste of Haute Creole cuisine and true New Orleans culture. Led by Executive Chef Eric Cook (above) and Chef de Cuisine Daren Porretto, Saint John offers a variety of Creole favorites with a twist for brunch and dinner (closed Tuesdays) along with a daily happy hour (3-6 pm), “Locals Day” during brunch on Thurs/Fri (Louisiana residents get 20% off the table with one LA ID) and Drag Brunch on Sundays!
Grab a seat at the open kitchen table and watch your dish come to life – all while being entertained by the restaurant’s team of talented chefs.
Reader Favorites
from our archives
Five fabulous French Quarter and Marigny homes welcomed visitors on December 2nd as part of the annual Spring Fiesta Holiday Home and Patio tour.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
A mid-century gardening club’s seasonal gathering has become one of New Orleans’ favorite holiday traditions, now hosting thousands of carolers each year.
– by Dean M. Shapiro
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
One the world's early photojournalists chose to close out her extraordinary 70-year career in the French Quarter, in the company of bohemian artists like local photographer Joseph Woodson “Pops” Whitesell.
- by Frank Perez
The French Quarter artist ushered body painting into the realm of fine art while maintaining his artistic freedom, but there's more to come.
- by Grace Wilson
Meet a few of the far-sighted men who blocked the wrecking ball's path through the Quarter in the early 1900s.
- by Frank Perez
Step into the “organized chaos” of Arcadian Books & Prints, where the love of the written word and two languages has reigned for 40 years.
– by Matt A. Sheen
At Fritai, chef and co-owner Charly Pierre embraces his heritage and the inherent connection between New Orleans and Haiti one dish at a time.
- by Kim Ranjbar
A young woman working at the Toulouse Theatre in the early ‘80s becomes acquainted with the legendary pianist and the forces that both inspired and bedeviled him.
– by Ellis Anderson
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
A trip to the new Sazerac House interactive museum and distillery leads to sampling the classic cocktail at five favorite French Quarter bars.
- by Kim Ranjbar
The Louisiana writer opens up about his Pulitzer Prize win, the power of transformation and the moment he realized he was a poet.
- by Skye Jackson
Chef and restaurateur Eric Cook breathes new life into a historic French Quarter space with the launch of Saint John, a Lower Decatur Street restaurant offering “haute Creole” cuisine.
- by Kim Ranjbar
Immigrating from Sicily in 1957, Biagio “Blaise” Todaro worked in a neighborhood grocery before opening his own shop - one that's become a French Quarter institution.
– by Jeremy Trager
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
Opening a new shop during a pandemic shutdown is a bold move, but this couple has found a ready audience as the French Quarter reopening unfolds.
- story by Reda Wigle
A mysterious dancer in the early 1800s mesmerized crowds and caused consternation by cross-dressing and challenging social norms.
- by Michael Warner
West African monarch, His Majesty King Toffa IX, visits the French Quarter as part of a United States tour.
- by Ellis Anderson
More than 150 years since its publication, George Washington Cable’s Old Creole Days remains an essential New Orleans read.
- by John Sledge
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
In 1981, a young woman moves to the French Quarter and lucks into a job at the Toulouse Theatre, home of the hit show One Mo' Time.
- by Nan Parati
After working 60 years at the French Quarter's famed Hotel Monteleone, Al Barras has become an institution - and the subject of an award-winning documentary.
- by Kirsten Reneau
Before she'd turned twelve, a young girl in a small Kenyan village made an ambitious list of life goals. Becoming a fashion designer was only number two.
– by Ellis Anderson
The carefully considered passing of the torch at this legendary French Quarter bookstore insures the literary light will continue to burn.
– by Scott Naugle
Editor's note: Joe DeSalvo passed away 12/20/2020. The bookstore he established continues to thrive. 
A fascinating new book by long-time resident Macon Fry explores life along the last batture community in New Orleans.
- by John Sledge
Few get to meet the woman who plays the most unusual - and loudest - instrument in New Orleans. French Quarter Journal goes behind the scenes and up top of the Natchez to watch Debbie Fagnano in action.
- by Rheta Grimsley Johnson
As she's closing her gallery and packing to move, Harriette Prevatte reflects on four decades spent as a working artist in the French Quarter.
- by Ellis Anderson
In the 1900s, LGBT+ people from around the country were drawn to the French Quarter's shifting centers of queer gravity, which offered both a spicy nightlife scene and an evolving culture.
- by Frank Perez
Longtime Quarter/Marigny resident and noted Tennessee Williams scholar Kenneth Holditch passed away December 7, 2022. FQJ published one of his last essays, “Of Two Mississippi Writers,” which you'll find below, along with a 2019 profile of the scholar by Rheta Grimsley Johnson. 
Despite the state's legacy of repression, some of the country's best writers are Mississippi natives. It's the birthplace of contemporary luminaries like Kiese Laymon and Jesmyn Ward. Tennessee Williams scholar Kenneth Holditch looks back at two 20th-century literary lions who wrote about that “postage stamp of native soil.”
- by Kenneth Holditch
The man who made the Quarter's literary legacy come alive with his walking tours and Tennessee Williams lore: a visit with Kenneth Holditch.
– by Rheta Grimsley Johnson
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