First Time at Essence Fest: The Definitive Guide of Do's and Don't - Part 2

A Guide for Your First Time at Essence Fest (Finally!)

Despite the hundreds of thousands of talented, creative, and ambitious black women who've descended upon New Orleans to fill the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in previous years...wasn't there anybody who could've warned a sista what I was about to get into? DAMN. 

While there is no official count of the number of Essence Fest 2017 attendees yet, it was estimated to have been nearly 470,000.  Yet when I was looking to prepare for the upcoming trip, I could not find a comprehensive blog post that spoke on the Essence experience as a helpful guide for future festival goers. The (very, very) few posts I managed to scrounge up had a few useful tidbits here and there, but nothing close to being a thorough reference. As such, while the memories (and regrets) are still fresh in my mind, I present to you 'an Essence Fest first-timer's definitive guide of do's and don'ts in New Orleans.'

Bring Cash

This is an obvious suggestion for anyone traveling anywhere - but I particularly recommend bringing cash to Essence Fest for the same reason that I wanted to go to New Orleans in the first place: the food.

The "Eats" section of the festival was as vast as it was crowded (emphasis on crowded). Food booths lined the makeshift cafeteria, which was probably the size of a football field or two, and they were always busy - some lines crossed nearly half the room! Lines of hungry black women were woven in-between tables of those lucky enough to snag a seat for a short respite from the non-stop trekking from panel discussion to panel discussion. Did I mention those were just the lines to order your food? The lines for pick up were a whole other story.

While all of the food vendors at Essence Fest accepted both cash and credit, the lines were separated by payment method. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have a crumpled $20 in my wallet so the astronomical lines were slightly less horrendous.

Unfortunately, long-lines seemed to be the theme of the weekend as the surge of festival-goers made dining-out take twice as long as it usually would. Having cash always expedited the process, enabling my friends and I to simply leave the bills on the table and be on our way. To recap: bring cash, it'll get you in, out, and on your way much more quickly.

Don't Wear Heels 

Seriously. Leave your heels home, you'll regret it. If you wouldn't dare walk to the grocery store in the shoes you're considering do. not. bring. them.

One of the few helpful tips that was shared from a previous Essence attendee was to not bother wearing heels to anything festival related - especially the concerts. My friends and I (mostly) heeded the warning as we ventured to the convention center for our first day of reveling in Essence-ness. In a single day, we walked nearly 6 miles, and not 6 friendly "walking in air-conditioned rooms on carpeted convention floors" miles. The majority of those steps were spent trekking to-and-from the trolley to the convention center or from our hotel room to food in the humid New Orleans sunshine on cracked sidewalks and bumpy asphalt.

If you're right now reading in the midst of packing for Essence Fest, I'm sure you think I'm over exaggerating.

"I work in heels, I'll be fine."

"I'm used to walking a lot. I'll be okay"

This was my exact train of thought when I initially read that advice myself. I mean, surely, she couldn't expect me to not do a total slay at least one of our nights out in New Orleans.

MISTAKE.

I foolishly convinced myself that I could wear my "comfy" heels, a pair of wedged black boots where parts of the fabric were worn out from all the many, many previous occasions where I wore them on a night out. Long story short: I had to tap out early from our turn up in the French Quarter. I came home with blisters and (painfully) wore flip flops for the rest of the trip. Spare yourself the misery and skip the heels if you're not 100% confident that you'll be doing more sitting than standing.

Pack a 'Day' and 'Night' Outfit

If you're unsure of how many outfits to pack, bring at least two outfits per day. At any given time in the late afternoon, you could find roves of women in groups retreating from the convention center towards the trolley for a quick respite back at their hotel rooms. We constantly overheard women making their evening plans, plans that always started with "We're heading back to the hotel and change."

Even as a native Miamian who normally doesn't blink at 90-degree temperatures, the combination of walking, day drinking, and New Orleans humidity made exploring the city an uncomfortable venture. Expect to sweat through your clothes. Unless your hotel comes with a washing service, you'll want to bring multiple outfits for each day.

If you were wondering how dressed up to get for Essence Fest (as I initially was), I found the daytime attire mostly comprised of women looking completely casual - nothing you wouldn't see at your local mall. Quite contrary to what I had imagined, there was only a small smattering of women dressed to the nines in their African-inspired attire or designer garb. While the notably stylish festival-goers were in the minority, it definitely wasn't out of place. I fully endorse going in IG-Influencer glam, who knows? Maybe you'll get stopped by an official Essence Festival photographer like my friend Dia did.

(Pictured: Dia and I) Daytime outfits: mad chill, dress to sweat

Bring Water

Amidst all the Essence excitement, there were periods where my friends and I realized we hadn't drunk water in at least 12 hours. Water isn't readily available (or offered) at the convention center, and our hotel had a single water fountain located on the first floor of the lobby - in fact, there was the instance when we asked a bar on Bourbon Street for water, and they straight up said "no."

Nearly all of the drinks we consumed were alcoholic, and we found the only time we had access to water was during sit down meals at restaurants. The dehydration was real and even in our non-health conscious states, we could feel it.

Unglamourous advice as this is, I beg all festival-goers to make sure they take care of themselves and drink plenty of water throughout their stay. I assumed that I would be able to get (free) water wherever I went, but that was undoubtedly not the case. My recommendation: buy packs of water to store in your hotel rooms, or better yet, be eco-friendly and bring your own refillable water bottles.

Skip Bourbon Street

Until a member of the New Orleans Department or Tourism hits me with a 'cease and desist' I will forever warn everyone I ever meet to stay the hell off of Bourbon Street. It's crowded, it's smelly, and the ground is littered with trash and suspicious liquids. Unlike the charming impromptu parades I had hoped for or the brass lines I had expected to see on every corner, I found Bourbon Street to be nothing different than the overpriced and overhyped tourist traps I see on South Beach here in Miami (you'll quickly learn that most locals avoid South Beach for the plague - South Beach is NOT real Miami).

In any case, I went to Bourbon Street to say that I did, but was wholly unimpressed. 

However, as I mentioned earlier in this blog post, I did go to the French Quarter and that was an absolute blast. As soon as I got out of the Uber I heard brass playing. People were gathered around, dancing and clapping, and the musicians were dancing right along with them. Now, THIS was the New Orleans I was hoping to see.

Walking down the street we saw packed bars with neon lights flashing "Live Jazz" where cheering crowds were bathed in smokey blue lighting. Brightly lit and colorfully painted restaurants had doors open, welcoming tired party goers to grab no-frills munchies in their quirky establishments. Lining the streets were charming homes and trees in a bizarre mix of nightlife and historic housing that offered a quiet (and clean) place to get away from the crowds on the street. The next time I come to New Orleans I won't waste my time and will come to the French Quarter straight-away.

Do Tourist-y Stuff on Sunday

Last but not least, if it's your first time in the Crescent City you'll probably want to pack in a bit of sightseeing. I recommend waiting until Sunday to do so when a large portion of Essence Fest attendees have departed and the city is much less crowded.

I was very surprised to see quite a few groups of women in front of the hotels, luggage in tow, hailing down Lyfts and Ubers to head back to the airport on a Saturday afternoon. The difference was most notable in the nighttime: the trolleys were much less crowded, the arena where the concerts were held was far less crowded, and streets overall had a little more breathing room.

By Sunday morning, a majority of festival goers had already left or were getting ready to leave. Since my friends and I weren't leaving until Monday, we had the opportunity to witness this mass exodus and have the city relatively to ourselves. The hustle and bustle of the festival was pretty much over, making Sundays the perfect time to fit in all your desired touristy exploits.

That's All Folks!

I hope you found this guide of "first time at Essence Festival do's and dont's" helpful. If you're reading this and about to embark on this New Orleans adventure yourself, I am so excited for you! You are about to have an incredible experience that is inspiring, humbling, and empowering all at once. Essence Fest has an infectious atmosphere of #blackgirlmagic and #girlboss throughout the city, it's a feeling that even now, I am getting goosebumps when thinking about it. At the end of the day, your squad is what's going to make this trip so cherish this time with your friends and have an amazing time at Essence Fest!

Did you have a similar experience at Essence Fest? Was there anything else you'd like to know about that I didn't cover? Let me know in the comments!