In most places, the seasons are divided into winter, spring, summer or fall. Here, it’s more like football season, crawfish season, Mardi Gras season and, of course, festival season.
When the sunny days come out to play, there’s no shortage of fests to enjoy in Baton Rouge.
Looking to try out new flavors? Wanting to expand your music tastes? Curious about crafting tiki cocktails? Yep, we have a festival for that. Dust off your lawn chairs, work up your appetite and lace up those walking shoes (or slip on the rain boots) because this year’s festival season is packed with opportunities to immerse yourself in local culture.
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225 spoke with some of this year’s performers, presenters and artists to find out what’s notable about this year’s festival season:
March 22-24
LA Tiki Festival
Various locations
Celebrate Polynesian culture with food, seminars, music and tiki cocktails at the second annual LA Tiki Festival. Grab the umbrellas, you’re going to need them—for your drink, duh!
225 spoke with Steven Dupuy, who mixes up tiki drinks at his home bar dubbed the Drunken Parrot Pub. He’ll be traveling from Mandeville to host a seminar about localizing tiki cocktails at this year’s fest.
Tell us a little bit about your seminar at the festival.
“I’m doing (a presentation on) using Louisiana rums in tiki drinks. In the world of tiki, they tend to discuss specific rums, and so I have been using Louisiana rums to replicate some of those same flavors that you would get in a tiki drink.”
What else can attendees expect this year?
“We’re actually going to a true tiki bar at Bayou Teche. … We are visiting another distillery, Wildcat Brothers, which is a great Louisiana distillery. I think that’ll be fun, as well. And, of course, Saturday night at Soji is going to be quite an experience. It’ll be a lot of fun for people to eat and enjoy the drinks there.”
April 6 + 7
The Flower Fest
Pointe-Marie
It’s time to stop and smell the roses—along with the tulips, marigolds, daisies and all the other blooming florals at this year’s Flower Fest benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Here, you’ll find a little bit of everything, from art vendors and food trucks to live entertainment and, of course, larger-than-life floral sculptures.
Returning for the third time to the petal-filled competition is The Floral Hive. Duo Lauren Landry and Janee Autin make the trek from Thibodaux each year and are eager to craft something for this year’s “Once Upon a Dream” theme.
What can you share about your floral structure for this year?
“This year’s theme is so cool, because people might not realize you can go many ways with it. ‘Once upon…’ you think, fairy tales and princesses. But, it’s also ‘Once Upon a Dream,’ so people might have creations that imitate what they think a visualization of a dream would be. … I’m not going to say what way we’re necessarily going, and we might be doing a little bit of a mix. But I will say to think of your own storyline. … Our creation is based on nodding to your own storyline.”
April 19-21
Baton Rouge Blues Festival
Downtown Baton Rouge
Known as one of the oldest blues festivals in the country, the Baton Rouge Blues Festival draws large crowds of music lovers annually with its swamp blues melodies, tasty food vendors and open-air environment. The free, three-day music fest boasts a packed lineup including local favorites like Kenny Neal, Henry Turner Jr. and first-timers the Michael Foster Project.
John Gray—trumpeter, longtime part of the Michael Foster Project and member of the Baton Rouge Blues Festival & Foundation board of directors—shares his insight on the festival and his excitement for performing this year.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s fest?
“To connect with audiences out there, have some fun with them and get them out dancing. … We want to pay homage to those musicians that we’ve lost from the blues community that we know and just have a good time connecting with the audience.”
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How does the Blues Festival make Baton Rouge better?
“It’s a two-fold thing: being able to highlight the musicians that are here and also expose fans who are here to music that’s outside of our locale.”
Find a full calendar of Baton Rouge’s spring festivals here.
This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of 225 magazine.