Hear new music for free, see documentary at Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Festival on Saturday
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – The 11th Annual Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Festival returns Saturday, Feb. 10 with new music and documentary screenings.
There will be some new faces performing this year. Two Crows for Comfort, a Canadian-based folk roots Americana duo, joins the festival for the first time.
“As we run Henry Turner Jr.’s Listening Room three nights a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we get a lot of touring acts that find us and want to know if they can play the room,” said Marcia Groff, publicist at Henry Turner Jr.’s Listening Room. “Two Crows for Comfort contacted us and we realized that was the festival weekend, so we asked them if they wanted to play it and they agreed. We also showed one of their videos in the Listening Room Film Festival in December.”
Texas-based rock pair Gemini Sunrise and twins Benjamin and Bervick of the Double Trouble Zydeco Band are also new this year.
Returning to the festival are the Phoenix Rouge Belly Dancing Troupe, SmokeHouse Porter and Miss Mamie, Robert “The Juice” Lenoir and Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor with Big Queen Tonya Bell Sylvas.
“We include different types of music as we want to appeal to all ages and generations,” Turner said. “We also like to find new talent and have them establish a base and a new group of fans for their tours.”
Live performances begin at 10:15 a.m. with Ervin “Maestro” Foster and Jim Masters and end at 6:15 p.m. with a James Brown Tribute Act by John “The Boss Man” Hall.
The family-friendly event will have face painting, food, beverages and a vendor’s market.
A documentary called “We’re Going Down to the Mardi Gras” will be shown at the River Center Library at 2:30, 3:30 and 5 p.m. Turner narrates the film and is also a producer. It follows his journey creating the first Mardi Gras Festival in 2014.
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The VIP Pre-party is from 7 p.m. to midnight Thursday, Feb. 9 at Henry Turner Jr.’s Listening Room.
The festival is free and open to the public, but some special deals exist. The VIP Package is $50 and includes two Taste of Louisiana meal tickets, two soft drink tickets, and the “Now” CD by Turner Jr. and Flavor.
The Big Chief Package is $100 and includes four Taste of Louisiana meal tickets for two, four soft drink tickets for two, the CD and covered seating.
Buy tickets here. The festival is located at North Boulevard Town Square in downtown Baton Rouge.
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