As if buying a house in Mexico wasn’t enough for this month, we are finishing a week with our good friends George and Cathy in Hammond, LA. The big event was the New Orleans Jazz and Heratage Festival, otherwise known as Jazz Fest.
Many believe that Jazz Fest far surpasses Marti Gras as the annual event that defines the city. Artists from all over the world arrive for their hour on one of the many stages throughout the fairgrounds. If you like good southern cooking, you can get anything from crawfish pie to green fried tomatoes. Yum.
The attitude of New Orleanians post Katrina is hard to describe. Everyone has a story to tell, everyone lost something. Yet, they remain the happiest and friendliest people that I have ever known. You need only stand in a line for a few minutes and someone will stike up a conversation. People are smiling and happy, yet clearly hurt by the storm and the events that followed. New Orleans was deeply wounded no only by the levee breaks (not the storm itself), but also by the continued poor response of just about every level of government, all the way to the White House.
A tradition at Jazz Fest is to represent your group with a unique flag or other object that can be seen above the heads of the crowd. This year, I saw several flags that said, “Make Levees Not War”.
It is clear, however, that it takes a lot more than a little water to slow down these folks. Everyone was enjoying the music, the food, and the incredible atmosphere that has made Jazz Fest the amazing event that it has remained for the past 35 years.