New Orleans Jazz Fest announces attendance for 2010, dates for 2011

New Orleans Jazz Fest announces attendance for 2010, dates for 2011
May 07, 2010
By Keith Spera
The Times-Picayune

The 2011 New Orleans Jazz Fest will fall a week later on the calendar than usual.
The dates for 2011 are April 29 to May 8. Thus, the first weekend concludes on Sunday, May 1 -- the first time in the modern era of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell that its first weekend will not fall entirely in the month of April.
Producers scheduled the festival later so it would not conflict with Easter, which is Sunday, April 24.
Additionally, producers announced that total attendance during the seven days at the Fair Grounds in 2010 was approximately 375,000.
That represents a slight decrease from 2009, when total attendance was an estimated 400,000.
Heavy rains on opening day of Jazz Fest 2010, coupled with dire but ultimately inaccurate forecasts on several other days, likely factored into the drop in attendance.
Tickets at the gate this year were $60, up $10 from 2009.