What to bring to Jazz Fest comes down to what the gate will let through: one small bag (17 x 12 x 10 inches or less), a single folding chair or stool, a soft cooler no bigger than a 12-pack, a sealed bottle of water, and a handheld umbrella no wider than 63 inches. Everything else is strategy, and the strategy mostly involves your feet.
We've been sending people out to the Fair Grounds from behind the counter on Magazine Street and Chartres Street for twenty years. Every spring somebody comes in on the first Friday, sunburned to the elbows, asking where to buy a hat. We'd love to sell you that hat. We'd rather you show up already wearing one.
The 2027 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival runs Thursday, April 22 through Sunday, April 25 and Thursday, April 29 through Sunday, May 2, according to the festival's FAQ. Gates are open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with last admission at 6:30, at the Fair Grounds Race Course on Gentilly Boulevard.
The Official Jazz Fest Rules (Read These Before You Pack)
The festival publishes a guidelines graphic, and it says, in very large letters, that the rules are strictly enforced at the gates and on the field. There are metal detectors at every entrance and every bag gets searched. Here's what the 2026 version allowed and banned.
Bags. Small bags, totes, backpacks and cinch bags, 17 x 12 x 10 inches maximum. No rolling suitcases or duffels. Yes, people try.
Chairs. Single, collapsible chairs and stools are fine. Double chairs, rockers, chairs with footrests or side tables, and anything inflatable are out.
Coolers. Soft-sided, 12-pack size or smaller. No hard-sided coolers and no rolling coolers.
Blankets. 6 by 8 feet or smaller, in designated areas only, with room left between blankets so people can walk. You can't stake anything into the ground, and you can't rope or tape off a square of grass to save it for your friends.
Shade. Handheld personal umbrellas up to 63 inches across. The second page of the guidelines bans bigger umbrellas, sportsbrellas, canopies, tents and hammocks.
Drinks and snacks. Factory-sealed water bottles, empty reusable bottles, an empty hydration pack, ice, empty cups and snacks are all approved. No other outside beverages and no glass of any kind.
Kids. Standard strollers are allowed, including doubles. Wagons, pull-carts and stroller-wagon hybrids are not, and neither are playpens.
Fun, apparently. Frisbees, kites, hula hoops and game balls are banned, along with skateboards and scooters.
One more thing that matters: Jazz Fest is cashless. Food, drink, crafts and merch booths take cards and phone payments. You can leave the envelope of twenties at home.
Dressing for Sun, Mud and Eight Hours on Your Feet
Late April at the Fair Grounds can mean a full day of sun with no shade at the big stages, or a thunderstorm that turns the infield into something closer to a crawfish pond. Some years you get both before lunch.
So dress in layers you don't mind losing. A loose tank or a lightweight tee does most of the work. Our Just Jazz It Tank is a Comfort Colors cotton tank made for exactly this, and we're biased, but it also reads well from across a crowd when you're trying to get your friends to find you at Congo Square.
Put a hat on your head and sunscreen on the back of your neck and the tops of your ears. Those are the spots that get first-timers.
If it has rained in the days before you go, plan for mud. Locals split into two camps here. One camp wears rubber boots and doesn't care how they look. The other wears old sneakers they plan to throw away on Sunday night. Both camps agree on one thing: do not wear new shoes, and do not wear anything with a heel. You'll walk a lot more than you think, across grass, dirt, gravel and racetrack.
Our longer take on outfits lives in Jazz Fest Outfit Ideas.
The Short Packing List
- A bag inside the 17 x 12 x 10 limit
- Sunscreen and a hat
- A sealed water bottle, or an empty refillable one
- A poncho that folds small
- A phone battery, because you will use the festival app and take too many photos
- Earplugs, if you're planning to spend time near the big stages
- One single folding chair, only if you're planning to camp at one stage
- An empty cup
That last one is a real tip. Empty cups are on the approved list. Our Fairgrounds Go-Cup is a 16-ounce silicone pint that won't crack when it gets kicked over in the grass, and it says "I'm Gonna Leave With This Drink" on it, which is the most Fair Grounds sentence we know. If you want the history of why this city drinks out of plastic, we wrote an ode to the go-cup.
About the Flags
You'll see them before you see the stages: homemade flags on tall poles, flying over the crowd at every big set. Inside jokes, band tributes, hand-painted faces, things nobody outside the group will ever understand.
They aren't decoration. They're how people find each other in a crowd when a text won't go through, and plenty of crews bring the same flag back year after year. We wrote about the flags as landmarks if you want the full story.
If you're making one, keep it light and keep it handheld. The festival's ground rules ban stakes and poles in the ground, so your pole lives in your hand or leans on your chair. And please don't plant yourself in front of the soundboard with a giant flag and block the view of everybody behind you. That's how flags get a bad name.
The Stuff You Can't Pack
Some of the best parts of the day don't fit in a bag. Get there for the first set, when the grass is still cool and the crowds are thin. Spend an hour in the Gospel Tent even if you didn't plan to. Walk through the Louisiana Folklife Village. Eat something you've never heard of.
And when a brass band starts up somewhere you didn't expect, follow it. That's the whole idea behind Do Watcha Wanna.
If you want to get your ears ready, turn on WWOZ for a week before you go. We've written about why WWOZ matters to this city, and our Listen To Your City shirt says it about as plainly as we can. You'll recognize half the names on the cubes by the time you land.
What to Bring to Jazz Fest: FAQ
What size bag can you bring to Jazz Fest?
Bags, totes, backpacks and cinch bags up to 17 x 12 x 10 inches were allowed under the 2026 guidelines. Rolling suitcases, duffels and other large bags are turned away, and every bag is searched at the gate.
Can you bring a chair to Jazz Fest?
Yes, a single collapsible chair or stool. Double chairs, rockers, chairs with footrests or side tables, and inflatable furniture are not allowed.
Can you bring water or drinks into Jazz Fest?
You can bring a factory-sealed water bottle, an empty reusable bottle or hydration pack, ice and empty cups. Other outside beverages and all glass are prohibited.
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