The Downriver Festival celebrates “all port of entry topics related to the Mississippi River” with live music, cooking demonstrations, lectures, educational pop-up exhibits, and food booths.
This is the third annual festival, set for September 12th at the US Mint. This year’s theme is “Rum & Sugar,” with Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes serving as the 2015 ambassador.
“Where would we be without the Mississippi River?” Barnes asked in a statement. “Our food, music, and culture is fed and led by it—and we owe it to ourselves to learn more about its mighty influences.”
The day kicks off at 11 a.m. with Barnes, guitarist Michael Harris, and a backing band performing songs from their album Songs of the Mississippi River.
The lectures presented by local historians and authors feature “River-inspired topics ranging from the celebratory to the cerebral: from tropical foodways and the French Quarter, to female bootleggers and the harsh history of the sugar and rum trades.”
The lineup on the musical mainstage has expanded this year due to increased sponsorship. See below for a complete schedules of music and lectures.
The event is put on by a coalition of the Louisiana State Museum, Friends of the Cabildo, the French Market Corporation, and the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.
It’s free and open to the public.
MUSIC (outdoors on Old US Mint grounds)
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 p.m. NPS Songs of the Mississippi River featuring Ranger Matt Hampsey
12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. The Reverend & the Lady
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Panorama Jazz Band
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Eddie “Lil Fats” Domino
3:10 p.m. – 4:05 p.m. Colin Lake Band
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Honey Island Swamp Band
6:00 p.m. Second Line to the River/French Market w/Kinfolks Brass Band
LECTURES (Old US Mint Third Floor)
11:30 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Slowfoods NOLA/Carmo Restaurant present a Tropical Foodways Panel: “Torrid Truths – A conversation about tropical food, music, heat and passion.”
2:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Rebecca Snedeker (moderator): “Hooked on Sweet and Sickening: Addictions to White Sugar, Privilege, and Pain.” Panelists: Rosanne Adderley (Associate Professor, Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University); Sociologist, community chef, and community organizer Jyaphia Christos-Rodgers; and Greg Granata, Co-Chair, Slow Food New Orleans and Slow Food Governor – Louisiana.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Sally Asher: “New Orleans’ Snake Charmers: Female Bootleggers” featuring local actors.
3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. A conversation with John Magill & Peggy Scott Laborde: “How The Mississippi River shaped New Orleans”
COOKING DEMOS (at the Farmer’s Market Pavilion in the French Market):
Slow Food New Orleans Food Education & Demonstration Stage:
With Brazilian musical interludes by Blake Amos
10am – 5 pm – The Lexicon of Sustainability pop-up art show in the farmers market
Cooking Demonstration Stage:
11:00 a.m. – Louisiana Shrimp Boil – Lance Nacio, Anna Marie Seafood
12:00 p.m. – Pesto and Pasta – Chef Dan Esses of 3 Muses & Jessica McNally of the Slow Food
Youth Network New Orleans & Garden
1:00 p.m. – Gyotaku – Japanese Fish Prints & Cane Juice Demo – Gary Granata, Slow Food New
Orleans
2:00 p.m. – Slow Fish Demonstration: Bagasse-smoked Fish – Chef Dana Honn of Cafe Carmo
3:00 p.m. – Sugar Cane & the African Diaspora – Chef Aiji Daste moderated by Zella Palmer of the
Ray Charles Program in African-American Material Culture at Dillard University
4:00 – p.m. Bananas Foster – Chef Ryan Hughes of Purloo
