A small neighborhood fair on the grounds of St. Louis King of France school. Great family…read moreatmosphere. Never too crowded. Good local bands. Decent food options. They had wristbands for the rides. $30 per wristband for 3hr time period. You can either ride from 12p-3p (black wristbands) or 3p-6p (green wristbands). Wristbands not valid if you have wrong color band on. Not sure what colors they used the other days but those were the wristbands for Sunday. Otherwise great family entertainment in Bucktown.

This small town fair is actually just across the line from New Orleans into Metairie, a suburb of…read moreNew Orleans, but is its own town. In the parking lot to an elementary school, you buy tickets to exchange for food or for rides. There are a handful of rides, a few food booths, a few booths with stuff to buy of homemade knick knacks, a raffle or two. The highlight of the festival is the stage. I lived about a mile away from last year, and I could hear the music far into the night. Classic rock n roll. Wear comfortable shoes and bring cash. There is an ATM, but the fee is high. Parking is tight in the neighborhood. There is no dedicated parking lot for the festival, as they are in the parking lot. I would be careful parking to not block driveways, or park in lots that will tow if you are not spending money at that business. There are several popular restaurants nearby, so traffic can slow down. Enjoy the festival!

So many choice beautiful weather good music great location. If you didn't make it this year come by…read morenext year

Objectively, this is more or less your standard festival. There's a lot of food booths, a music…read morestage, merchandise stalks, and a large section of carnival rides and games for kids. It lasts for four days, with admission being free on the first day and then $5 in the remaining three days. It's pretty easy to get to, and parking isn't even that bad because there's a large Wal-Mart right next door. As far as attractions go, there were two standouts. First was the caricature drawing booth, a neat idea that I don't recall seeing at many festivals. Second was the crawfish bread. With Jazz Fest postponed, the chance to get crawfish bread was awesome. Not that I actually got any - that line was waaay too long - but still. Because the pandemic is still a thing, the festival this year has one unusual offering: vaccines. I saw at least two different tables set up to give COVID vaccines. They were set up kinda off the beaten path though, and didn't seem to have any takers. Still not a bad idea though.

It was a very nice and enjoyable family fun day at this festival. The rides were fantastic, mainly…read morefor the children and there were lots of games to play for both children and adults also. Most rides required four tickets and tickets are $1 each. There were lots of children out gallivanting from ride to ride and those with the $25 unlimited ride wrist band was certainly living it up. The rain did muddy the lawn near the rides but it wasn't too bad. It was just so nice to see them having fun. There was definitely ample space for folks to roam about the festival without bumping elbows with one another and the music was pretty decent. Now for the star of the festival, the gumbo...or shall I shall fumbo (fumble). I'm not sure who calls this place "the world's best gumbo" but what they're selling for $8 is horrendous IMO. There was no flavor and it was way too watery. This bears no resemblance to traditional New Orleans style gumbo. I really hate to say this but they may want to reconsider a name change from "Gumbo Capital of the World" Festival to "Bridge City's Best-We-Can-Do Gumbo" Festival. You will need tickets to purchase food but the ticket line moves fast, which is a good thing. It was good to see lots of cops present but they really needed someone directing traffic. Other than the sacrilege gumbo, we really enjoyed ourselves and the hosts, staff and everyone working there were very friendly. They even gave out free pepper sauce upon leaving. TIP: Be sure to bring your own folding chairs!

This was without a doubt the lamest festival I have ever been to!…read more As much as Bridge City,LA boasts about being the gumbo capital of the world they really fail to live up to their own expectations. I had seen several signs advertising about this gumbo festival. So I was pretty stoked about checking it out. I guess I had a totally different picture in my mind of what it really was. In my mind I thought it was going to be set up like a cook off with multiple chefs showing off their culinary skills. I also pictured people selling arts and crafts. I even pictured a real Zydeco band up on stage. But alas that is not the way it was. Here's what really happened at the Gumbo Fest. All the food was at one booth and the gumbo was mediocre. Yes you heard me the gumbo did not live up to the empty promises that they made. Plus it was $7.50 a bowl. I know of several restaurants that I can buy it cheaper. There were no arts and crafts. There were only crappy knick knacks. This stuff included the kind of crap that you would buy off of a street vendor at a Mardi Gras Parade, or the useless things that are typically on sale at a truck stop. The band they had on stage was a mediocre cover band. Neither me nor most of the other people at this event paid much attention to this band (maybe because they weren't that great). The only thing that could even remotely be entertaining here were the carnival rides. But alas I am NOT a 9 year old child so carnival rides are out of the question. I don't know if they had anything else because I didn't stick around very long. I really think that the people of Bridge City should have put way more thought into this before they decided have this little shindig. But rest assured I will not be returning to this festival. In short this festival might be entertaining.......If your a 7 year old!!!!

I wasn't sure what to expect. I've been to a number of festivals and they are all a bit different…read more This one is extremely small and offered very very few vendors. I especially enjoyed the pralines from the vendor who was enthusiastic and great with his clients. Other than that most vendors who were there made it appear they were bothered by persons buying from them and I heard several moaning about they weren't making enough money. There wasn't much to offer and considering it was the Sicilian or Italian festival I would like to have seen more offerings relevant to that theme. They offered a few items I had a great Italian sausage poboy but there wasn't a lot to choose from. There wasn't a single Italian desert item offered and not a single vendor selling anything Italian related. No pasta or homemade sauces in jars or wines. Not a piece of cheese to be found. No tiramisu no Italian appetizers. It was basically a little tiny state fair that served lasagna and a couple other dishes to make it appear the theme was correct. I only drive 40 min so I didn't mind that but had I driven from further away for a sandwich I would have been very upset. A few rides for kids. Definitely not what you expect from a Louisiana festival at all

Friday night was a beautiful evening to start Kenner's 12th annual Italian Heritage Festival in…read moreRivertown. Weather was a mite brisk, but not too chilly. The festival runs through Sunday, ending at 8 pm. It wasn't too crowded tonight. They had several food booths open tonight, plus a couple that didn't show up. That was our dinner, Italian food along with a little beer and wine. Off to the other side from where we were sitting, there were several kids activities. An Italian genealogy group had set up camp in the heritage building. Two rows of crafts tents lined the block of Williams. There was a $5 charge per person to get in. A pleasant way to spend a spring evening.

2015 Christmas in the Park: Lights at Lafreniere…read more Major kudos Jefferson Parish for renaming "Holiday in the Park" back to Christmas in the Park. Jefferson Parish councilman Ben Zahn stated that even though the name change may upset some residents (whom I couldn't care less about), he believed that the name change "will restore faith in traditions and the true meaning of the season" and "the name has less to do with promoting a particular faith than with honoring "tradition and patriotism; which is how this country started." Bravo! For those of you not in the know, Christmas in the Park is an incredible light display inside of Lafreniere Park. This attraction is for children and adults alike, as the displays are geared for all ages. There are many different Christmas and holiday themes present. Of course, there are numerous Christmas favorites such as Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frozen to name a few. Kudos to Jefferson Parish working to get the Christmas Nativity scene as well as a 7 foot tall Star of David returned to the park's display. I particularly enjoyed the technical lights on the Star Wars attractions, especially the X-Wing fighter, Tie fighters, Millennium Falcon, r2d2 & c3p0. A personal honorable mention to Transformer Optimus Prime. At 5 PM, the entrance to the park is closed and all vehicular traffic is forced to enter on West Napoleon. This was my only pet peeve, as the process for a 1st time visitor like me seemed discombobulated. After waiting in line for a long time, I entered the park and waited even longer. I finally paid my $5.00 and was given a ticket, which I subsequently had to turn back in just 100 yards up the road. The cars slowed everything down as everyone wanted to take pictures. I recommend parking and walking as you can take your time and see everything up close and personal. There are lots of activities for the kids such as writing a letter to Santa Claus, making your own Christmas ornaments or taking photos with some of the Christmas characters. The carousel was open and rides only cost $1.00. There are concessions all over and it's just good old clean fun. The displays are open Sunday thru Thursday from dusk til 9:45 p.m. and Friday & Saturday from dusk until 11:45 p.m. My suggestion is to go early and avoid the long lines.

I ran in the Oktoberfest 6k this year, so I decided to go to the festival after. I found it was…read morevery crowded. Seemed like all the stands were just too close together. They did have a lot of different beers to choose from and many different food items. We didn't stay long enough to hear a band play. Overall, not really my kind of thing, but it did seem like people were enjoying themselves!

This is one of my favorite festivals in NOLA. Maybe its my German heritage plus the fact that my…read morebirthday is in October. I love that they throw this big party for me every year! It's not easy to find German food in South LA, but this place can scratch that itch. They have German cheeses, beer, schnapps, wine and food! So much German food (pretzels, brats, knockwurst, sauerkraut..and the list goes on). You can pay to park in the lot, or park down the street for free and walk a bit. Don't forget yo bring a chair, seating is pretty limited inside. Plop your chair down, grab some food and a drink, listen to the Om-pa music and do the chicken dance every hour. Already looking forward to next year!

This is my favorite spring time festival here in New Orleans. The weather isn't too hot yet, and…read morethe location is perfect. Don't let that fool you, bring a hat and sunscreen. I didn't go looking for a particular band although I enjoyed what I heard. I came for the food!!! I went on Saturday which is day 2 of the festival. We got there around 11:30, it wasn't too crowded but they were definitely in full swing. By 4:30 the crowd had tripled in size. Lines were moving quickly and the options were endless. We tried several things and everything was so fresh and on point. A few standouts were the oxtail melt, the gumbo dumplings, and the must try alligator cheesecake. My only suggestion would be to allow water bottles to be brought in or, at least empty ones and have a fill station. Next, more seating in the sponsor lounge. The venue was large, and had plenty of space for more seating areas. Also the food in the lounge was lacking in variety, although I enjoyed the salad offering. The bartenders up there were great, and I loved the terrace overlooking the festival.

A time was had. The weather was nice. The food and live band was awesome. We enjoyed ourselves…read more There were no fights, just good food, music, and positive vibes and energy.

I found out about this festival through a friend who fosters dogs and cats for the SPCA. More…read moreinformation about this annual event can be found here: http://www.jeffersonspca.org/pet-fest but parking will be PACKED within a few hours of the start of this event. There were booths for the SPCA of all of the neighboring parishes, food booths, even mini horses for kidlets to ride. Set in the grounds for the Copeland stage, there was also live music, a costume contest and the best part is that the SPCA brings dogs and cats intended for adoption, and the event this year, the adoption fees were waived. This is an amazing event. Seriously. I look forward to coming back next year, and I think all of you should come as well. There are just booths on booths on booths. There were a few booths that had knick-knacks to purchase. This was an amazing event. Great job everyone! Please note that the gender neutral restrooms are actually port-a-johns. Bring hand sanitizer and wear comfortable shoes!

This is a nifty area of Kenner that has some good restaurants and some very interesting spaces and…read moreplaces to investigate. There is a lot of potential for this place to develop into a shopping and entertainment district but so far that hasn't happened. I mainly end up in this area when I'm visiting to eat at Gendusa's which has some good food and draws quite a crowd of its own. Overall this area is worth a drive to check out and you can easily tour it quite fast and then enjoy some good food at Gendusa's.

This is a section of Kenner near the river that is several blocks. There is a planetarium, a local…read moretheater, a park, several restaurants, shopping and a pottery place (you can paint your own pottery, or take one of the classes and make your own masterpiece). Anywho, there are several things to do in the area.