What seemed like just another Saturday event in New Orleans became a representation of love, hope, fun, and culture coming together as one for the Ninth Ward Love Riot event.
Jon Batiste in partnership with The He Gets Us Project hosted the Love Riot Festival, an event all about celebrating the vibrant spirit of the Ninth Ward community in New Orleans. The event took place during Super Bowl LIX weekend on Feb. 8th at George Washington Carver High School.
“Being of service by bringing love, light, and healing through music is something I am called to do. At its core, that is what the Love Riot festival is all about,” Batiste said.
The community event consisted of food from local vendors, opportunities to connect with community leaders and organizations, and live entertainment and music from artists such as Flava Flav, Ledisi, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ninth Ward Churches Community Choir, Queen Tahj, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, Big Chief Monk of the Mardi Gras Indians, George Washington Carver High School Marching Band, and much more.
Some community partners like The Giving Hope Foundation, Positive Minds Positive, and Thrive New Orleans also contributed to making this event happen.
“It’s important that we bring festivals to the community. This was a great opportunity to bring it right in the community next to a school and have an awesome time,” said Sess4-5, who hosted the event alongside Batiste.
Along with the festival, Batiste performed the National Anthem the following day for the Super Bowl LIX.
“This is very beneficial, and this is very important to us because we don’t really, you know, be seen. And for us, for people to recognize our talent in the culture is really important to us and we really appreciate it.”, said Second Line Jay 5, New Orleans native and versatile second line dancer.
New Orleans artist Brandan “B-Mike” Odums — a high school classmate of Batiste’ s — created the festival artwork and collaborated with He Gets Us, Batiste, and Sing for Hope. Together, they led 10 New Orleans-based visual artists to design hand-painted pianos placed all over the 9th Ward to promote the festival and create a vibrant expression of the city’s culture.
As the event commemorated the culture of New Orleans, Batiste was accompanied by second-line fever from the Nine Times Social Aid & Pleasure Club and other groups as a part of the run of the show.
“With the engagement, with the love, the music, the culture all together. It’s definitely a big thing for this community because, you know, we’re mostly an urban area. It actually was an area that didn’t develop from way back in the days, through the 60s. So for the people to come out and just take some of that stress off themselves, come out and enjoy some good music, eat some good food, that’s what it’s about,” said Raphael Anthony Parker Jr., founder of Nine Time.
Even in the mists and tragedies that occurred on Bourbon Street the night of New Years, one thing for certain is that the community stands stronger than ever during these times of togetherness and community love for the city of New Orleans.
