New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival turns 50, headliners include Ciara, Pitbull and Earth, Wind & Fire

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The city of gumbo, Bourbon Street, Treme and Black people is gearing up for a big anniversary—the 50th year of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

“Jazz Fest is everything you love about New Orleans to begin with,” Dumpstaphunk keyboardist Ivan Neville told The New York Times.

Ivan Neville first hit the festival stage in 1977. He will also be performing with the rhythm section for the Meters, a band co-founded by his uncle Art Neville, at this year’s festival.

READ MORE: Lauryn Hill debuts at New Orleans’ jazz festival

“It’s the most variety of music that you’ll ever see in one given place, so that’s first, and then the best food that you will ever eat in your entire life,” Neville said.

The festival started Thursday and will take place over two weekends in the city’s Gentilly neighborhood, CNN reports.

“Jazz fest is utterly unique,” music writer Keith Spera, who has covered the festival for decades, told CNN.

“That’s because New Orleans is utterly unique, and the festival reflects the city,” he added.

The first festival took place at Congo Square, then known as Beauregard Square, in 1970. It’s a place where African drumming and dancing often took place through the end of slavery, according to the Times.

The tickets were only $3 and vendors were left with so much leftover food that they fed children from a nearby orphanage. But each year, the festival drew more people to New Orleans.

At its peak in 2001, the festival drew 618,000 people. Today, that number is more like 400,000 to 500,000, but the gathering still puts about $300 million into the city’s economy.

This year, Herbie Hancock; Ciara; Santana; Earth, Wind, & Fire; Diana Ross;  Al Green and Pitbull will take the stage, among others.

Mick Jagger was supposed to be the main headliner, but those plans were dashed after the Rolling Stones’ star underwent heart surgery, Spera told CNN.

Though the festival draws performers from all over, the majority are from Louisiana, and the gathering raises $3 million each year for the nonprofit New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, according to the Times.

“This is very much a festival showcasing New Orleans and Louisiana talent, with some of these marquee names added to the mix,” said Spera.