1New Orleans, The Big Easy, the City that Care Forgot, loves holidays, parades, celebrations and festivals. If New Orleans cannot find a reason for a festival, it will make one up. Finding holiday festivals in New Orleans is easy.Transportation
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- Christmas Holiday FestivalsTake a walk through the French Quarter during the Christmas season. Christmas, New Orleans style, finds the Quarter ablaze with lights, wrought iron balconies adorned with Christmas decorations and streetcars decked in garlands. You will encounter historical characters as they walk the streets of the quarter. Talk to them and learn some of the history of New Orleans. See and taste authentic New Orleans food at cooking demonstrations, visit historic homes decorated in holiday colors and find gifts at the special quaint shops found in the streets of the Quarter.
St. Louis Cathedral hosts weekly concerts and special events. The Patio Planters, a French Quarter dwellers association, sponsors a Christmas Carol Sing in Jackson Square the Sunday before Christmas.Visit the Greek Festival on Memorial Day weekend. At the Greek Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity Cathedral, find Greek dancing, games, the best Greek Pastries and food cooked by the ladies of the church. Let the kids enjoy the playground and don't miss the stage full of youngsters dressed in authentic Greek costumes and doing Greek dances. 

Whatever else you do on Memorial Day, do not miss the special tributes to our Veterans at the WWII museum at 945 Magazine Street.Attend the the super Essence Festival, celebrating African-American music and culture. It's always held over the Fourth of July weekend. The festival attracts nearly 200,000 people yearly. You will see the the best-dressed, most talented people in the nation. Hear African-American musical talent and listen to some of the finest motivational speakers at special seminars.Don't miss Go Fourth on the River, selected as one of the Southeast Tourism Society's top 20 travel destinations for July. The American Pyrotechnics Association calls it one of the top five "must see" fireworks displays in the United States. Fireworks are set up on barges on the Mississippi River. You can sit on the river banks and watch. Bring the whole family.See Southern Decadence, a Labor Day weekend of fun sponsored by and for the gay community of New Orleans. Started as a simple going away party 37 years ago, it has evolved into one of the gay world's largest parties. Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered people arrive from all over the world and have made Southern Decadence the gay Mardi Gras bringing $100,000 to the city of New Orleans each year.Attend The Voodoo Music Experience for Halloween. It is always on Halloween weekend in City Park in New Orleans. You can hear music at two main stages as well as at two or three other tents or stages. Expect to see world renowned musicians over a period of three days.Eat unique New Orleans food on Thanksgiving. You can find deep fried turkey. Only in New Orleans would someone think of deep frying an entire turkey. Or if you want something completely different, try turducken. Cajun all the way, it's a chicken cooked inside a duck inside of a turkey. Take a bite and you will be looking for the recipe to take home with you. You will find local celebrations all over the city and at most restaurants. There is no better place than New Orleans to be if you cannot be home for Thanksgiving.
