You know New Orleans is different. The Dixieland jazz, platters of steaming red crawfish, bougainvillea-draped porches, streetcars rumbling beneath centuries-old oaks, mythical 24-hour bars and persistent voodoo legends. And the parties! Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Bourbon Street—when does this city sleep? With nearly 300 years of exotic history behind it, the city offers a dizzying array of only-in-New Orleans cultural, musical and culinary experiences, all of which add aunique perspective to meetings agendas.
“I’ve lived here all my life and still discover new things about the city,” says Bonnie Boyd, president of BBC Destination Management of New Orleans.
So how can a meeting planner wade through it all to really do New Orleans right? Following is an A-to-Z rundown of the don’t-miss activities sure to make meetings in the Big Easy an easy success.
Architecture
From Creole townhouses to antebellum plantations, New Orleans possesses a rich architectural heritage—one of the richest in the country. Boyd suggests beginning a visit with an in-depth architecture and history tour.
“Getting a sense of how the city grew—the French, Spanish and Caribbean influences—is really a background on how we see ourselves,” she says.
Also unique are the “Cities of the Dead.” A practical response to the city’s high water table, these distinctive cemeteries arose when 18th century New Orleanians began burying their dead above ground to prevent the coffins from floating out of their graves. The most famous is St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, where 19th century voodoo queen Marie Laveau’s grave is regularly marked with three X’s from modern-day believers hoping for favors.
Bayous
The murky waters surrounding New Orleans add to the city’s mysterious allure. The swamps, also called bayous, teem with exotic wildlife—alligators, pelicans, 200-year-old cypress trees dripping with moss, candy-colored irises and velvety green duckweed blurring the border between water and land.
Honey Island Swamp Tours in St. Tammany Parish takes groups via flat-bottomed boat deep into the bayou, past Cajun fishing shacks and, if you are lucky, face-to-face with Wappo, a 15-foot gator with a penchant for marshmallows.
Want to pick up the pace? Cheryl Rodrigue, director of sales for New Orleans-based DMI Conventions, suggests an airboat tour in Jean Lafitte Swamp in Jefferson Parish.
“You get the alligators, the wildlife and a wild ride, too,” she says.
If you’d prefer the experience without the swamp, Nikki Nicholson, vice president of sales at the New Orleans CVB, suggests a party in the Swamp Exhibit at the Audubon Zoo, where, she says, you can “see the gators with a glass of champagne in your hand!”
Creoles and Cajuns
You can’t go to New Orleans without hearing the words Creole and Cajun—often interchangeably to the chagrin of locals.
New Orleans is Creole, a unique culture derived from the exotic blending of the French, Spanish, African and Caribbean people who first settled the city. Creole culture is well represented in the city’s grand architecture, refined cuisine and myriad forms of jazz.
Cajun culture hails from the wetlands west of New Orleans. Descendents of French settlers expelled from Canada in the 17th century made this area their home, building their unique culture over generations of geographic isolation. Music spiked with fiddles and accordions, spicy dishes of rice, seafood and game, and the continued use of French are all signs of Cajun culture.
In addition to daytrips into Cajun Country, local DMCs can throw a fais do-do (a Cajun dance party) for groups. Rodrigue offers one in the Jean Lafitte swamp, “just like they did 100 years ago,” she says, with a Cajun band, a cochon de lait (Cajun-style whole roasted pig), jambalaya and a storyteller recounting the tale of D’Loup Garou, a legendary Cajun werewolf.
Boyd recently hosted a Cajun culture event at the 18th century Destrehan Plantation.
“We had a Cajun band, dancers teaching the Cajun two-step, dishes like alligator sauce piquante, artisans, storytellers and even a bone reader reading the future from chicken bones,” she says.
Groups can get a taste of the culture right in the city at Mid-City Rock-n-Bowl, which puts on a Cajun zydeco show every Wednesday. Tipitina’s, a revered live music venue, offers Cajun dance parties most Sundays. For Cajun cuisine, it’s got to be Cochon, ranked among the nation’s top restaurants. Chef Donald Link, a Cajun by birth and a James Beard winner by skill, offers exquisite Cajun food, mostly based on the kitchen’s homemade charcuterie.
Districts
The French Quarter (also called the Vieux Carre) is the spiritual heart of the city. Highlights include the antique shops and galleries along Royal Street; beignets and cafe au lait under the green-striped canopy of Cafe du Monde; the imposing 18th century turrets of Saint Louis Cathedral overlooking Jackson Square; the open-air French Market; the Moonwalk promenade alongside the Mississippi; and the all-night-long, all-you-can-drink decadence of Bourbon Street.
Other key areas include the Faubourg Marigny, home to colorful Creole cottages and the city’s hottest live music scene; the CBD (Central Business District), which houses the Morial Convention Center; the Warehouse Arts District, which gets its name from the presence of the Contemporary Arts Center, the National World War II Museum and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art; the Garden District, with its opulent mansions, mysterious Lafayette Cemetery and renowned Commander’s Palace restaurant; and Uptown, a colorful residential area of corner po’ boy shops, upscale restaurants, the award-winning Audubon Zoo and miles of boutique shopping along Magazine Street.
Food and Drink
New Orleans worships food. Locals plan dinner while sitting down to lunch, and even tourists learn quickly to eat souvenirs, not buy them. Soft shell crab po’ boys, platters of raw oysters, crawfish etouffee, shrimp Creole, olive-drenched muffuletta sandwiches, flaming bananas Foster…the delectable list goes on and on.
Poppy Tooker, local food personality, cooking instructor and “culinary activist,” suggests dining “in one of our ‘food museums’—Antoine’s, Galatoire’s or Arnaud’s—where local cuisine is presented in its most perfect form just as it was 100 years ago.”
These repositories of refined Creole dining, along with Brennan’s, Court of Two Sisters, Tujague’s and Broussard’s, are equipped to handle large groups. Smaller groups might try a streetcar dine-around.
“Hop on the St. Charles streetcar and hop off at Carrolton for breakfast at the Camellia Grill,” Tooker says. “Later take it back down to Washington Avenue for a grand lunch experience at Commander’s Palace.”
A visit to the Crescent City Farmers Market is a must for foodies, with Louisiana shrimp, oysters and crabs still wiggling in their shells; local produce ranging from Creole tomatoes to Satsuma oranges; artisan cheeses and honeys; and prepared local treats like Sicilian stuffed artichokes. Visitors who go early can see the city’s top chefs stocking up for the day’s meals and occasionally giving cooking demonstrations.
Groups can get in the kitchen with Tooker at the New Orleans Cooking Experience. In an 18th century Creole plantation, she takes participants through a historical tour of New Orleans food, including ancient local dishes like rice calas and Creole cream cheese. Other treats might include seafood-stuffed trout, crab bisque and oysters Rockefeller—“things you’d find on a high-end Creole menu.”
As the birthplace of the cocktail, New Orleans has no shortage of classic pours—Sazerac, Pimm’s Cup, Ramos Fizz and cafe brulot. Atmospheric places to tipple include the 200-year-old Napoleon House and the spinning Carousal Bar at the Monteleone Hotel. Larger groups can sip foot-high Hurricanes, another local specialty, in the spectacular courtyard of Pat O’Brien’s.
Festivals
“We love food, we love music, and we love a party,” Rodrigue says. “For us, every day is a festival.”
The local calendar proves it. In addition to Mardi Gras and the Jazz Fest, look for the Creole Tomato Festival, New Orleans Seafood Festival, Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival, Satchmo Summerfest, French Quarter Festival and Swamp Fest. Each celebrates different aspects of New Orleans’ rich culture, but they all offer three things in common: good food, good music and a New Orleanian promise to “pass a good time.”
Larger groups can hold their own festival. Mardi Gras is the most popular theme, and groups can stage a mini-parade complete with costumed revelers, a high school marching band, police escorts and beads to throw to onlookers.
“As many times as I have done it, it is still an exciting time,” Rodrigue says. “At first attendees don’t want to throw the beads, they want to keep them, but eventually they really get into it.”
Boyd also proposes a Jazz Funeral, a joyous march accompanied by a brass band to bury the dead, though she suggests “burying the competition” instead.
Music
“Our history and culture of music is just astounding,” says Jan Ramsey, publisher and editor-in-chief of Offbeat, New Orleans’ premier monthly music magazine.
The proof? New Orleans is the undisputed birthplace of jazz via Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton. Nineteenth century marching band traditions met African rhythms here to create New Orleans’ distinctive brass band sound. New Orleans R&B was pioneered by Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers and songstress Irma Thomas. Add names like Fats Domino, the Marsalis family, Harry Connick Jr. and Dr. John, and you start to get an idea of the depth of New Orleans’ musical heritage.
Ramsey’s insider tips? Don’t come expecting blues; “this is a jazz town.” And don’t go to Bourbon Street looking for local music; “sadly you’ll find mostly cover bands.”
Ramsey suggests Preservation Hall and Palm Court Jazz Cafe for traditional jazz, Donna’s and the Maple Leaf Bar for brass band music and Frenchman Street in the Faubourg Marigny for “an intense local music experience.”
Frenchman is home to Snug Harbor, a top contemporary jazz venue.
Venues
Groups can go beyond the convention center and hotel ballroom with an event in one of several uniquely New Orleans venues.
The streetcar has been an icon of New Orleans long before Marlon Brando screamed, “Stella!” Planners can rent one for a distinctive rolling party through some of the city’s most evocative avenues.
Running from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, River Road is dotted with spectacular antebellum plantations. Houmas House was once the largest sugar plantation in the world. Laura Plantation offers a peek into an authentic Creole plantation. Oak Alley reveals the opulent lifestyle of New Orleans’ summering rich. All are available for tours or special events—from Creole balls to Gospel brunches to Cajun fais do-dos.
Steamboats and paddle wheelers have plied the wide waters of the Mississippi since the early 1800s. The Steamboat Natchez, the Creole Queen and the Riverboat Cajun Queen continue that tradition today, offering groups a fascinating cruise back in time.
Mardi Gras World, home of Blaine Kern Studios, is where Carnival’s elaborate floats are built and maintained. Attendees can tour the studios, see the artists at work and party amidst giant papier-mache figures of Louis Armstrong, King Kong and Marilyn Monroe, while team builders can engage in a mini-float decorating contest.
For More Info
Jefferson CVB 504.731.7083 www.neworleansgateway.com
New Orleans Metropolitan CVB 504.566.5011 www.neworleanscvb.com
St. Tammany Parish Tourist & Conv. Commission 985.892.0520 www.louisiananorthshore.com
