Gates open at 11 a.m. Last admission at 6:30 p.m. Buy TicketsGet Member TicketsBecome a Member Festival days are the Garden’s busiest. Be prepared. 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Enjoy tantalizing tastings from dozens of artisanal food vendors.
Bazile Sauce The Garvin Blake Ensemble Can You Take the Heat? Buyu Ambroise & The Blues in Red Band Second Line with the Plezi Rara Band Yellow Magnolia Concessions Haiti Cultural Exchange Red Hook Initiative Mortal Beasts & Deities Cooking Demo: The Art of Hot Sauce Cooking Demo: Shrimp with Sauce Piquant Pepper Tour and Talk Hot Chiles for Cool Kids 5–7 p.m. Featured on HBO’s Treme, Grammy winner Irma Thomas is one of the Big Easy’s most beloved and iconic entertainers. Known as the Soul Queen of New Orleans, her version of “Time Is On My Side,” later recorded by the Rolling Stones, has over 3.5 million listens on Spotify. Guitarist and singer Walter “Wolfman” Washington has been a mainstay of the New Orleans music scene for over 50 years. He cut his teeth backing up some of the best singers in New Orleans history, including Lee Dorsey, and his band, the Roadmasters, has been burning up local and national stages since the 1980s. Joseph Pierre “Big Chief Monk” Boudreaux is the leader of the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. Boudreaux is a vital figure in the tradition, and has distinguished himself as a gifted folk artist and dynamic performer through his unwavering dedication to this singular African-American culture. John “Papa” Gros is a bedrock New Orleans artist, keyboardist, and singer/songwriter who draws on funk, rhythm and blues, and Americana song craft. He also knows his way around the Mardi Gras music repertoire as well as anyone.
N’awlins Flavored!
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Volcanic Victuals!
Blank Slate Kitchen
Calcutta Kitchens
Cantina Royal Hot Sauce
Culture: An American Yogurt Company
Forward Roots
Fraktured Sauce
Hattwood Hot Sauce
Hell's Kitchen Hot Sauce
Hellgate Farm
Hernán
Jersey Barnfire Hot Sauce
JoMart Chocolates
Kreyòl Kwizin
La Newyorkina
Laurie & Sons
Mama Margarita’s Salsa
MyaBèl
Nafis Originals
Pearl Street Caviar
PéKANT Tea Company
Pepplish Provisions
Pierre’s Spicy
Pisqueya
Pure Peppers
Queen Majesty Hot Sauce
Raaka Chocolate
Rick’s Picks
Sahadi’s
Shaquanda Will Feed You
Stabroek Enterprises
The Spicy Shark
Tienda Salsita
TorchBearer Sauces
Whimsy & Spice
Whitehouse Station Sauce Company
Zia Hatch Chile Company
HOT HAPPENINGS!
Cherry Esplanade Stage
Trinidadian steel drummer Blake celebrates sounds of the African diaspora with a funky fusion of steel pan, jazz, and Caribbean rhythms.
See how contestants fare in this hot pepper–eating contest featuring Brooklyn-grown peppers. (You must be 18 or over to participate.)
Haitian-born Buyu offers up an exhilarating blend of island polyrhythms, jazz harmonies, groove-producing bass lines, and earworm brass solos.
Join a Haitian-style second line parade from Cherry Esplanade to the concert stage.Around Cherry Esplanade
Enjoy sizzling eats, craft beers, and other drinks from the Patina Events team.
Visit our curatorial partners to learn more about the great work they do.
Tour the world of peppers, test your pepper knowledge, and buy peppers grown by youth farmers from Red Hook Farms.
Keep an eye out for stilt-walking chile-heads!Cooking in the Fragrance Garden
12–12:30 p.m.
Turn your pepper bounty into a must-have for meals, with tips and techniques from our curatorial partners Red Hook Initiative.
3–3:30 p.m.
Owner and head chef John Verlander of Brooklyn’s own New Orleans–inspired hotspot Lowerline shares his craft.Pepper Talks in the Herb Garden
Join BBG Garden Guide Caitlin Marinelli on a culinary tour of the world’s peppers.Kid Stuff in the Discovery Garden
Pot up a pepper plant to take home.New Orleans Living Legends in Concert!
Irma Thomas
Walter “Wolfman” Washington
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux
John “Papa” Gros and his Band
Partners
Tickets required for all! Members enter free with ticket.
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