Festival brings New Orleans legend to Shreveport
New Orleans jazz trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Kermit Ruffins and his band, The Barbecue Swingers of Basin Street Records will entertain the crowds at the 11th annual Highland Jazz and Blues festival.
This year’s festival is scheduled noon to 5 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Highland neighborhood’s Columbia Park.
“[The Highland Jazz and Blues Festival] is one of the main reasons why I fell in love with this city. I run into people who last year said ‘I’ve lived here for six or seven years and I’ve never come, this year is my first – and oh my gosh’ – they love it,” Kelly Rich, sponsor coordinator for the festival, said.
The festival has grown substantially since its inception in 2003 when only a few bands played and around 500 to 1,000 people came to watch. Approximately 10,000 people have attended to the festival in recent years.
“We are trying to branch up to move into different parts of the park – this year we will have a bigger presence at the Line Avenue side of the park,” Rich said. “We are constantly growing, and you can see that in the numbers and through the offerings we have each year.”
With so many visitors, parking can be sparse.
“We have counteracted the parking issue by offering a free shuttle from Mall St. Vincent. IShuttle has come on board, and the pick-up will be at the Dillard’s entrance at the mall. There will be three constantly moving to get people back and forth,” Rich said.
In addition, the festival will also offer a dog area, and an area for the children to enjoy.
“We try to stay true to the initial concept which is interesting food, more of the homemade, local vendors and some local music talent along with the big name headliners,” Rich said.
Ruffins, once called “New Orleans’ Ambassador of Good Times” by Downbeat Magazine, is a co-founder of the Grammy Award winning Rebirth Brass Band, played himself in the HBO series “Treme,” and owns his own jazz restaurant in New Orleans; Kermit’s Treme Speakeasy. His latest album, “We Partyin’ Traditional Style” was released in 2013.
“It is pretty special for him to come here – supposedly he doesn’t like to leave New Orleans, so for him to come up here is a big statement to the festival and to Shreveport,” Rich said. “The Hilton is one of our sponsors and they take excellent care of the acts when they’re in town.”
In addition to Ruffins and The Barbecue Swingers, the Gazebo Stage headliner is blues and Southern Rock performer Steve Hester and DeJaVooDoo. Buddy Flett, Louisiana Haywire, and Robin and the Mystics are also scheduled to play, as well as Texas guitarist Joe Nadeau Band, and Shreveport performers Professor Porkchop and The Dirty Dishes, Seratones and Twang Darkly.
There is still space to become a vendor at the festival. Volunteers at the festival can participate in two to three hour shifts, and will receive a 2014 Highland Jazz and Blues Festival T-shirt.
For more information about the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival or to become a volunteer or vendor, visit their website at www.highlandjazzandblues. com.
Rich encourages first-timers to come experience the festival for themselves.
“It’s one of those little hidden gems that people don’t get until they go. It’s a true community festival,” she said.
“People bring their blankets, people bring their dogs and their kids, they’re playing frisbee and dancing to the music – and there’s no other festival in town that matches that same type of atmosphere.”
–Mandy Byrd
