NOLA Amidst COVID: Learning From A Tough Past To Cope With An Uncertain Future
Debbie Davis deleted most of what was on her Google calendar over the first weeks of April. "It was too depressing," she says, on a long phone call she likely wouldn't have had time for under normal circumstances.
Spring in New Orleans marks the start of the city's packed calendar of events that keep local musicians like Davis, a singer and occasional ukulelist, hopping for months. These concerts and festivals draw millions of residents and tourists out to celebrate, and bring with them a flood of adjacent gigs like private parties, destination weddings and conventions, all scheduled to take advantage of the balmy weather and active entertainment schedule. There's the Buku Music and Art Project, the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival and Mardi Gras Indian Super Sunday in March, the French Quarter Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April, Bayou Boogaloo in May, the Creole Tomato Festival in June and the Essence Festival of Culture in July — just to name a few of the largest and longest-standing events. Thousands of musicians and other hospitality workers bank tens of thousands of dollars in South Louisiana in the spring, all the better to make it through long, hot summers when tourism drops and the threat of hurricanes looms.
Davis has to scroll back to early February to find a normal week's schedule for herself and her husband, Matt Perrine, a bass and sousaphone player. Between the two of them, she says, they averaged 15-20 shows per week. "You tuck all your nuts away," Davis said. "But now there are no nuts, and it's already winter somehow."
New Orleans festivals and concerts began to be canceled or postponed in early March, as the looming impact of the new coronavirus became apparent. The approved size of public gatherings in the city shrank quickly, from 250 people on March 13 per a statewide proclamation by Gov. John Bel Edwards, revised down to just 50 people four days later — the same time that bars, casinos and theaters were ordered to close and restaurants were limited to take-out and delivery service only. On March 20, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a shelter-in-place order. During a press conference on April 14, she recommended that no 2020 festivals, some of
