Essence Festival stays in New Orleans through 2014

NEW ORLEANS – The Essence Music
Festival will call New Orleans home
through 2014, organizers and city
officials announced Wednesday, in
a deal they said would continue the
boom in visitors and spending the
city sees each summer.
Michelle Ebanks, president of
Essence Communications, and New
Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu on
Wednesday announced a four-year
deal that keeps the festival where
it began 16 years ago.
"We are just overjoyed," Ebanks
said at a news conference. "The city
of New Orleans is the natural home
for the Essence Music Festival,
which has grown into an
experience that is of a size and
scope that was never foreseen."
Staged over the Fourth of July
weekend, it regularly draws
hundreds of thousands of fans. In
July, more than 400,000 people
attended events held over a three-
day period at the Ernest N. Morial
Convention Center and the
Louisiana Superdome.
The 2011 festival is set for July 1-3.
It started in 1995 to mark the 25th
anniversary of Essence magazine
and has since grown into a major
national venue celebrating black
music and culture.
"We are pleased to say that the
Essence Music Festival is now one
of the top destinations in the
country," Ebanks said. "But not only
are they coming for the festival,
folks are coming to New Orleans for
its food, charm and culture, and it
doesn't get much better than that."
Terms of the new contract were not
released, but Landrieu's office said
getting the deal was good for the
city and the state.
"We found out what it was like not
to have the Essence Music Festival,"
Landrieu said, recalling 2006 when
the festival moved to Houston
while renovations were completed
on the Louisiana Superdome and
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
following Hurricane Katrina.
"When the festival was here, the
hotels were 97 percent filled. When
it wasn't here, the rooms were
empty. That type of data gave us
a really good baseline to gauge the
economic impact," the mayor said.
According to studies conducted by
the University of New Orleans
Hospitality Research Center, on
average, the festival generates
more than $5.2 million in city taxes
and $7.9 million in state taxes, with
$47.6 million of earnings for area
residents. It also showed that the
average attendee spends more
than $280 per day, with over $90
million in primary spending and
another $82 million in secondary
spending, the mayor's office said.
"The importance of the festival to
our culture, our festival calendar
and our economy cannot be
overstated," Landrieu said. "This is
the kind of success we can have
when we work together."
Ebanks said the deal "is a pretty
long horizon."
"It gives us the perfect time frame
for planning and coming together
to maximize all of our resources,"
she said.
Ebanks said other cities have
courted the festival but she
wouldn't name them. "They have
wonderful venues but New Orleans
is our home," she said.
Asked whether the festival had
chosen any headliners for next
year's celebration, Ebanks
remained mum.
"We are committed to being bigger
and better than we've ever been,"
she said, smiling. "We are working
around the clock on this experience
and all I'm saying is don't miss it!