We're at Louis Armstrong Park for the
Cajun-Zydeco Music Festival!
And it's sponsored by the New Orleans
Jazz and Heritage Foundation. It's free
to get in. They do take donations.
There's a lot going on here. A lot of good music
is going to be happening today.
There's lots of booths here, with all
kinds of products. And things you can buy.
Clothes,
jewelry.
Art work.
Oh, and crepes!
Ice cream!
And I hear the music. We're headed that way!
Uh, oh. That's a good man there. He put a ring on it!
So this next song is just for you! What's your name man?
Christian? Congratulations!
translation
But this song right here is what you tell her
when you want to leave and you can't wait to get back home.
It's called, "Back To You".
There's lots of different acts during
the day.
Oh
It's a hot day.
Mid 90's. So we had to get some Italian Ice.
I got a tropical rainbow. What did you get, Donna?
Pineapple Coconut! It looks good too!
It's a real pretty area here. And that's
the Mahalia Jackson Center for the
Performing Arts.
There's the statue of the great Louie Armstrong.
He was born in New Orleans.
He didn't really start his career until
after he moved from here, but this is his hometown.
And right now on stage is Sean Ardoin.
He's really good!
They've got a whole lineup coming every day.
They've got all kinds of good food here. Seafood.
Crawfish tray. Fried green tomatoes.
Cajun seafood, egg rolls, catfish po-boy.
Shrimp and grits.
And plenty to drink!
They have a cool kids area where they make crafts. And they're
playing with magnets and building stuff.
And coloring.
And all this is free for them to do.
There's wooden blocks to play with.
And this is cool! Foam blocks.
This area around here is called Congo Square.
During the late 17th, and well into the
18th century, the slaves would gather
here on Sundays, and have music and dance.
They didn't have to work on that day, so
this was their day to celebrate, and live
life like they wanted to.
And this is the actual historic Congo Square. They were
telling us that New Orleans was one of the
only places back then that didn't make
the slaves work on Sundays. So they let
them come here and congregate, and play
music and dance and just be free.
For one day. By 1819, the people that came
here numbered 500 to 600 people. So it
was a huge gathering.