Special Events & Weekly Happenings
Curated by Locals for Quarter Lovers Everywhere
Our hyperlocal list of special French Quarter events is curated by local insiders and updated weekly!
Photo: the courtyard of the Historic New Orleans Collection, 520 Royal Street. Find full details on our curated FQ Events page! Photo by Melissa Carrier
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 MuseumJune 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
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photo: Go 4th on the River 2024 by Ellis Anderson 
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May 2026 Stories & Photo Features
Social media wunderkind, international influencer, emerging potter: This Internet sensation has found his calling in the Quarter.
– by Doug Brantley
Scientists say New Orleans has reached the "point of no return." In this op-ed, a local writer responds like locals do – with humor and with heart.
– by kd gros
The Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association celebrated its golden anniversary in style, offering invitations into seven homes, one amazing garden and a walk through the show-stopping Hotel Pompadour.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
What began as a protest against a cranky neighbor in 2025 became a full-blown festival this year, filling St. Philip Street with music, joy – and lots of suds.
- photos by Shawn Fink
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
A mother reflects on raising a child in the city that captivated her heart – with a growing sense that she was always meant to be there.
– by Elisa Cool Murphy
This free annual festival at the New Orleans Jazz Museum offers the perfect wind-down after a crowded weekend at the fairgrounds – and some of the city’s most talented performers who record on the museum’s label, Gallatin Street Records.
- photos by Pat Jolly and Ellis Anderson
2026 Reader Favorites
Stories & Photo Features
More than 300 acts performed on 20 stages over the four-day festival – offering up the best of New Orleans music to blissful and appreciative crowds.
- photos by Scott Saltzman, Shawn Fink and Ellis Anderson
The new stretch of riverfront park that opened just a week before the festival – with an enormous grass lawn, a kids’ play area, an enormous cooling mister and hammock hangers – offered two stages and plenty of pleasure.
- photos by Scott Saltzman, Shawn Fink and Ellis Anderson
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
100+ photographs: Follow FQJ through the French Quarter on Easter Sunday as we catch three parades and search for the day’s Best Bonnets.
- photos by Ellis Anderson
The 54th annual parade, organized by the Italian American St. Joseph Society, featured floats, dance krewes, an enormous rolling St. Joseph’s Altar – and the amazing Sansepulcro Flag Throwers from Tuscany!
- photos by Cheryl Gerber & Ellis Anderson
The Sicilian tradition of building annual altars to thank St. Joseph for saving them from famine is now a favorite New Orleans celebration.
FQJ visited all three French Quarter altars on March 18 & 19 and captured the artistry of each!
There’s something to be said for infotainment, as a tour with ‘The Professor’ blends historical facts with a little local flavor.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Growing up in a live French Quarter theatre where your mother stars in a jazz musical – alongside some of the most iconic musicians and performers in New Orleans – leaves an indelible impression.
~ by Chantell Nabonne
It’s a family affair at a new Vietnamese restaurant in the St. Claude corridor - just outside the Marigny – and happily, everyone’s invited.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Writer and long-time Frenchmen Street bartender celebrates a special occasion - which turns out to be every night on the musical strip.
– by Christopher Louis Romaguera
Restaurants struggling to stay open amid a year-long street construction project have devised creative incentives to attract diners.
– by Kim Ranjbar
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
A boutique jewelry shop recently opened on Chartres Street where the ethereal has become tangible . . . and infinitely wearable.
– by Kim Ranjbar
Bogdan Mynka, founder of the Verismo Opera company, serves as producer and artistic director to a boldly conceived version of Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans, premiering at the Marigny Opera House in January.
– by Caroline Rowe
A noted French Quarter musician embarks on a mission to preserve traditional jazz - leaning in to New Orleans’ gritty local history to do it.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
Toss conformity out the window: historic homes lend themselves to creative uses, transforming to meet a family’s changing needs.
– by Elisa Cool Murphy
A debut poetry and essay collection by Chuck Perkins celebrates New Orleans in all of her “sadness, sickness, spirit and splendor.”
– by Skye Jackson
A former owner of the unique French Quarter building at 536 Bienville Street reflects on its history and 1990s renovation.
– by Thomas Uskali
An artist housesitting a home with one of the Quarter’s largest courtyards has an unforgettable ephiphany: No one owns the French Quarter, we’re just fortunate to be its stewards for a time.
~ by Craig Tracy
Dinner and a show and home by 10? Pulcinella! celebrates a year of serving up Sicilian comfort food – and offering sassy burlesque shows upstairs at the Original Nite Cap cabaret.
– by Kim Ranjbar
This no-holds-barred artist explores the beauty of imperfection in her portraits, paintings – and handwritten signage – in Jackson Square.
– by Caroline Rowe
This new book follows a dynamic young artist into the Roaring ‘20s French Quarter, where its lively Bohemian colony anchors him for the next sixty years.
By Tom Uskali
Frank Perez's new book on New Orleans LGBT+ history bears witness to the value of local journalism, especially when covering minority communities.
-by Claude Summers
The first club featuring female impersonators opened in New Orleans in 1933 at the edge of the French Quarter. Read on for a peek inside some of the most popular.
-by Frank Perez
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
In the 1950s, two talented young brothers rocket from a Bourbon Street bar to Carnegie Hall, eventually recording with one of their childhood heroes - despite the South’s repressive Jim Crow laws.
- by Bethany Ewald Bultman
A rare plein air watercolorist finds endless subject matter by exploring shadows in the city of his ancestors.
– by Caroline Rowe
The search to uncover more about this historic French Quarter home’s past gets down to earth with Dr. Ryan Gray and his team.
-by Jane Lowrance-Neal
A writer with deep generational ties to the French Quarter takes readers back in time – and then guides them through a century of change.
– by James Nolan
A second-generation Jackson Square artist, Elaine Cummins got her first license to hang “on the fence” when she was only 16. More than forty years later, she’s still happily there.
-by J. Michael Warner
The long-gone street vendors of the Creole delicacy “calas” were mostly women. But the last one was a man named Richard Gabriel.
- by Laura Guccione
If it takes a village to raise a child, it might as well be one of the most interesting ones in the country.
~ by Caroline Rowe
From its recently revamped Performance Center to its musician-promoting record label, everything is up-tempo on Esplanade Avenue.
– by Doug Brantley
This new boutique hotel is as colorful and memorable – and unexpected – as a painting by its artist owner, James Michalopoulos.
~ by Kim Ranjbar
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
The Occasional Wife’s estate sales are legendary! We set up and sell the contents of your home, offering complete clean-out after a sale. Unsold items or ones you like but no longer need can be placed on consignment in our stores:
· French Quarter (624 Dumaine Street)
· Uptown (2850 Magazine Street)
· Elmwood (5727 Jefferson Highway)
· Mandeville (1675 US Highway 190, Ste. 1675)
· Pensacola (13440 Perdido Key Drive).
Feeling overwhelmed? We also offer services to simplify your life! Our staff can declutter and organize your home or office, prepare your home for market, help you pack, move and unpack in your new home! We also offer holiday decorating, downsizing, running errands, planning and much, much more!
Reader Favorites
from our archives
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
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