MATTHEW HINTON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Loren Eckstein, left, and Parker Schonekas, of New Orleans dance to the music of Van Morrison by the Acura Stage during the New Orleans Jazz Fest and Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds May 2, 2010
Worried about the effect of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on the seafood industry, Devi Miron knew exactly how she was going to spend the last day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell.
Sure, she was there for the music. She and her friend were especially looking forward to Trombone Shorty and Van Morrison.
But first she had to eat. She started with a bowl of crawfish etouffee and said she would later try the crawfish bread and shrimp taco.
"I'm worried, " she said, referring to the oil spill. "So I'm going to try to eat as much seafood as I can."
Fortunately for Miron and other seafood lovers, the lines for such popular dishes as softshell crab po-boys and boiled crawfish were relatively short, thanks to an overcast, windy day that saw drizzles turn to downpours and back to drizzles.
Although last-day attendance figures won't be available until later this week, the nasty weather made for much lighter crowds than what is typical for the final day of Jazz Fest.
For those who braved the weather, they couldn't have asked for a more satisfying experience. At the Economy Hall Tent, they second-lined to the music of Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders. At the Blues Tent, they danced to the sounds of Margie Perez, who ended her show with a tribute to the late Marva Wright. And at the Acura Stage, they moved to the music of Van Morrison.Jayashree Rao of New Orleans said she actually prefers the Jazz Fest atmosphere on rainy, even stormy days. She attended the festival on the first Friday -- an especially inclement day -- and said she had the time of her life.
"I had more fun, " said Rao, accompanied by her daughter, Aparna Rao, a New Orleans native who now lives in Washington, D.C. "The crowd chemistry is different. People don't care if they get wet or dirty. They have fun regardless."
With open seating and standing room available at almost every stage and tent and no jams of people clogging the walkways, getting from venue to venue was relatively easy, even with the slushiness that the rain produced.
At the Blues Tent, Chris Beattie of Blacksburg, Va., and Sissy Wiggin of New Orleans neither stood nor sat. They danced to the music of Margie Perez and planned to do the same at the Los Po-Boy-Citos and Davell Crawford Singers shows.
"One of the things that I love about this place is that we can just go from place to place and dance, " said Beattie, who invested in a $425 Brass Pass and attended the festival six out of seven days.
He said the only thing that would have kept him away from the festival Sunday would have been "six feet of snow."
During some of the heaviest downpours, many fest-goers took refuge in the covered areas of the Lagniappe Stage. Among them were Chandler and Leslie Green and their 14-month-old daughter, Haroly, of Baton Rouge.
"We used to come here to cool off; now we come to dodge the rain, " Chandler Green said as he danced with his daughter to the music of Jonno and Bayou DeVille.
While he was not discouraged by the weather, Green, an avid birdwatcher, said he has been especially upset about the oil spill and its impact on wildlife and seafood.
"I've been really down about the oil spill, " he said. "But I said, 'We have to go to Jazz Fest. We have to support this thing.' This is still 100 percent New Orleans."
Wayne Baquet of Li'l Dizzy's Cafe said that while lines for his crawfish bisque, creole file gumbo and trout Baquet may have been shorter than usual, he was more than happy with sales.
In fact, he said, he heard several people say they wanted to eat as much seafood as they could because of the unknown future of the seafood industry.
"They say, 'Let me get my seafood now because we don't know what's going to happen, '" Baquet said. "We tell them, 'Get it now. Get it while it's here.' "
