Satchmo Summerfest 2023

The French Quarter’s Satchmo Summerfest celebrates New Orleans native, Louis Armstrong’s birthday. The free 2-day celebration with live music and local food, takes place in the French Quarter at the Old U.S. Mint – home to the New Orleans Jazz Museum where you can find Armstrong’s first coronet. The heat has been extreme for weeks. I believe the heat index Saturday was 117 degrees, but we were looking forward to finally being out and about.

When we arrived, the 79ers Gang were playing on the Barrack’s Street Stage

Jazz Fest Thursday!

Because people have jobs, Thursday can be the least crowded day of the entire Jazz Fest schedule. Add a cold rain until after lunchtime and things got off to a very slow start. I volunteered to work in the Kiwanis beer booth to raise money for local children’s activities and got to spend the day remembering everything I love about Jazz Fest. The “shoe forecast” called for boots owing to the rains the night before – todays showers weren’t predicted. But I loved seeing all the fashion fun “boot weather” brings out (favorite pictured below). My friend, Wendy, and I ended up wearing the exact same pair – extra funny since we met when she dressed my character in The Loft years ago.

We set up the booth, got a requisite Crawfish Monica, then wandered to the nearby Acura Stage to watch Cha Wa.