Merge Food & Music to Win Crescent City Blues & BBQ Fest’s T-Shirt Design Contest

Organizers for the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival are looking for a tantalizing T-shirt design to capture the tasty fun of this year’s festival. Creative Allies spoke with Scott Aiges of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation to help designers get a better idea of the festival’s vibe and what to incorporate for a winning design.

Creative Allies: This is the 6th year of the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival. How many people do you expect to attend?

Scott Aiges: We had just over 16,000 people last year, and we’re expecting about 20,000 over the course of the event. It’s an evening concert on Friday, Oct. 14 followed by full days on Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th.

CA: Where do attendees generally come from, and what is their age range?

SA: We did an audience survey last year, and 55 percent of our audience came from outside of Louisiana, plus an additional five percent who came from outside the United States. They come from all over, from Australia to Canada and all points in between. The remainder, of course, are from this area. The age range is roughly mid-20s to mid-60s, with some folks bringing their kids and that kind of thing.

CA: I can already see you have a stellar line up of musical acts, but tell me more about the BBQ. How good is it going to be?

SA: How can you ask such a thing!  How good? Totally awesome. Some of the best things that we had out there last year, and that will be back this year, are the grilled lamb ribs from a place called Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar & Restaurant, the grilled crawfish sausage made by Vance Vaucresson (who has been selling Creole sausage at our events since the first Jazz Fest in 1970), and the “cochon de lait” (pulled roast pork) poor boy that’s a favorite at Jazz Fest. Plus a lot of other great ribs, brisket and other traditional barbecue.

CA: Are people barbequing at the same time the music is playing? How late into the night does the festival go? I can imagine there are some pretty joyful nights of eating and dancing. Can you describe the energy at the festival?

SA: Yep. The food vendors start grilling in the morning and keep going all day, and the music cranks up at around 11 am. One thing people always comment on is that we have two stages that face each other from opposite sides of Lafayette Square Park. When one stage ends, the next one starts right away, and it bounces back and forth all day long. There’s a bunch of folks who bring camp chairs, park them in the middle, and they just turn their chairs around to catch the next act. People scream and holler for the music, but overall I’d say it’s a pretty mellow vibe.

CA: Regarding the Creative Allies T-shirt contest, do you want the design to highlight the music or the food?

SA: Ideally both. Someone on the Jazz Fest message board said people should picture a bluesman sitting on top of a big ol’, crescent-shaped BBQ rib, and make the list of bands look like a rack of baby-backs! That’s kind of literal. But if somebody wants to give it a shot, go for it. Maybe it’ll be awesome.

We did a contest for the T-shirt last year, and most people seemed to riff on a guitar. But I’d be happy to see people take it in far-out directions. Jazz Fest T-shirts often have alligators and crawfish and stuff, and accordions and saxophones. I wouldn’t mind seeing something that’s an iconic blues person image, but without referring to a specific individual. (Our first couple of years we used an altered version of a great shot of the late New Orleans blues belter Marva Wright.) Or something totally abstract would be fun to see. We’re up for anything.