Tents, tables and coolers full of cold drinks dotted the sidewalks outside the Fair Grounds on Thursday (April 25), the first day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Before entering the gates of the Fair Grounds, festivalgoers were welcomed by ambitious entrepreneurs. These street vendors have been a fixture outside the Jazz Fest for decades.
While some are established businesses, others are individuals looking to take advantage of the increased foot traffic for eight days in their neighborhood.
For some people, selling outside the Jazz Fest is less about making money, and more a tradition that they’ve carried on year after year. It’s a display of street vendor culture in New Orleans – a city with no shortage of outdoor events that attract tourists.
“I feel like it’s a great opportunity for people to make a little money, because the festival brings a lot into the city, and [with] tourism, and the city makes a lot of money off of it, so I think it’s great that locals are also able to get a piece of that,” Asha Thomas said.
Thomas was assisting Denise Collins Johnson, an art vendor who’s been selling outside of Jazz Fest in her front yard for over 30 years.
They were set up just steps away from the festival gate on Gentilly Boulevard. Two large tents covered tables with a spread of “Jazz Fest survival items,” as Johnson called them – sun hats, sunscreen, chairs. They were also selling clothing and other decorative items.
Thomas said she grew up “behind the booth” helping her mother make money in a similar way.
A couple blocks down Gentilly, Ashley Wilson watched as her six-year-old son, Ashton, advertised water bottles from a cooler to passersby. With Ashton on spring break from school, Wilson thought it was the perfect opportunity to show him the ropes. She wanted him to learn how to make a profit and how to handle cash.
“He’s loving it because he gets to interact with people … they’re talking to him more than us,” Wilson said.
The Wilson water bottle setup happened to catch the eye of a handful of New Orleans city employees walking by. One employee stopped to tell Wilson that the family isn’t allowed to sell water. The employees continued walking without further explanation and without forcing Wilson to leave.
Dozens of other people selling water remained outside the Fair Grounds into the afternoon.
Vendors outside the festival are aware that city employees and Jazz Fest staff monitor the Fair Grounds perimeter to enforce rules regarding who’s allowed to conduct business. But there was no clear consensus among vendors of what the rules are.
Some vendors interviewed by Verite News had permits, while others said they didn’t. Some acknowledged that the business licenses they held – which permit them to do business outdoors – aren’t valid in the area during festivals, in reference to the “clean zones” the city establishes around major events that limits competition for official event vendors.
Verite News spoke with about a dozen vendors who all had different interpretations of the rules.
Across Gentilly Boulevard, Amanda McCollum was selling tacos in her friend’s front yard. She’s an outdoor food vendor around the city and this is her fourth year selling outside of the Jazz Fest.
McCollum said the city has been getting stricter with permitting over the years, and it’s impacting the culture of street vending during Jazz Fest.
“Of course, the city wants their cut of money, but like, at least make it plain how to do what you need to do,” McCollum said.
She said there’s a disconnect between the city and vendors on permitting rules. And in her experience trying to obtain a permit, staff don’t seem to know the rules either, she said.
“It’s hard to go to City Hall and get a permit because I’ve been down there several times and the people at the desk don’t even know what’s going on,” McCollum said.
Christina Orozco was outside selling ribbons adorned with roses that can be worn as headbands or tied onto hats. She’s been a vendor outside the festival for several years, and she’s always been wary of getting ticketed.
Last year, on the first day of Jazz Fest, she had a run-in with city staff and they forced her to shut down her business. She returned the following days to continue selling.
“There’s always something new and different,” Orozco said about enforcement. “It’s always an obstacle course.”
But the confusion hasn’t been enough to keep her away from the festival. Orozco lives in California and drives to New Orleans every year just to sell at Jazz Fest.
“I don’t travel very far to do many things, but NOLA, I can justify it,” she said.
For Valkyrie Sykes, selling crafts during last year’s Jazz Fest kept her afloat financially.
“It saved my ass, honestly. I just moved here and I didn’t have a job at the time, and I was able to live off of my art for the first time ever,” Sykes said.
Sykes said she worked on her inventory all year in preparation for this year’s festival. She sells crocheted key chains and plushies in the shapes of genitals, along with sex toys in various sizes and bright colors, among other crafts. All of her items are made from upcycled trash.
“It’s not just trashy things, it’s trash itself,” she said.
A new addition to the surrounding streets during this year’s Jazz Fest were concrete barriers lining the sidewalks. Along Fortin Street, the barriers divided the sidewalk from the road, streamlining festivalgoers onto the sidewalk. This led to awkward setups for vendors, who are used to selling to people in the street.
Linda Minor was situated along the barriers with coolers full of water bottles ready to be sold.
“I’ve enjoyed this for years,” Minor said. “I get to meet so many people from other countries and different states. I love it. And the [best] part is, they come back every year, they know my name.”
Minor has been selling water in the same spot every year for ten years. She said that barriers were likely added as a safety precaution after the New Year’s Day terror attack. (The New Orleans Police Department has increased security for this year’s Jazz Fest, citing the Jan. 1 truck attack.)
But the additional restrictions on space – and an early morning encounter she said she had with police about it – left her feeling unsettled.
“I hope it gets better, because I was starting to think this morning, ‘I’m probably just going to end this’ because it’s a little bit difficult. So I’ll see what tomorrow holds,” Minor said.