My First Essence Fest Experience

90’s Vibes

My BFF, we’ve been friends since 1998!

Canal Street

Shea Moisture Pop-up Shop

One of the two clothing items I purchased in New Orleans

Whew, chile…I’ve been gone for a minute. I know y’all are tired of reading these “I’m back” statements when I get missing unexpectedly. Finding the balance of blogging and working has been a struggle. Mostly because I didn’t have someone to take my photos consistently. However, I recently found a new photographer to work with that is cost-effective and available consistently. So it’s back to banging out this content. I have so many things to catch you guys up on. One of them being my first attendance at Essence Fest.

The past few years Essence Fest has been the melanin mecca of summer festivals.  Every year I say, “next year I am going”. So when my cousin invited me to attend with her BFF I agreed right away and asked my BFF to join…GIRLS TRIP!  We immediately decided that we were purchasing the three-day tickets for concerts. I wasn’t really sure about the line up at the time but I knew if I was traveling out of town for a concert good seats were a must.  We paid $372 for three-day tickets in the section right below the club area in the Superdome. Next, we need to secure lodging.  My friend was kind of enough to allow my crew to stay at his house, score!

Essence Fest ended up being a great experience.  The concerts were amazing. I got my life every single night. I had the opportunity to enjoy so many of my faves from the 90s.  If I had to choose and this is tough, The Roots, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu were my faves with Mary J. Blige being a very close second. This being my first time attending a music festival I wanted to share a few things I learned during this trip.

1. Travel with People that Have the Same Interest as You.  I am a blogger and there were plenty of blogger/influencer events related to Essence Fest.  I decided to forgo attending any of them because I didn’t want to separate from the group. It would have been a perfect opportunity for me to network and meet some new faces.  I could have also pitched to do some brand collaborations if I had done my research ahead of time.
2. Large Crowds Overwhelm Me. My group didn’t have a plan for the day we decided to attend the actual expo at the convention center. Big mistake, we should have been out there early so we could beat the afternoon crowd. There were several seminars I missed and I didn’t visit any booths or buy any goodies. Speaking of goodies arriving at the convention center early would allow for you to return to your hotel before the concerts and drop off your purchases.
3. The Orleans Parrish – New Orleans sales tax is 9.45%.  Yea, almost 10%. I bought the cutest skirt from F21 from The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk and didn’t realize that an additional 5% taxes existed for New Orleans. Y’all know ya girl loves to shop and that right there limited my purchases!
4. Patience is a Must! With the popularity of Girls Trip, Essence Fest was jammed packed with several versions of the Flossy Posse. I am sure with 2019 being the 25th Anniversary of Essence Fest it will only draw more people to the largest celebration of black women.  Make sure you pack your patience. Of course, any large gathering of people will require you to be a little extra patient from the time you arrive at the airport until you leave. We had the hardest time find places to eat that didn’t require us to wait over an hour. Also, remember that everyone is not friendly and courteous.  I witnessed several incidents of people almost coming to blows over people rushing them or being asking to move because they were sitting in the wrong seats at the Superdome.
5. Comfort took Priority over Being Cute.  When I started packing for this trip I knew that I wasn’t gonna be “extra” when it came to my outfits.  I was completely focused on comfort. We did a lot of walking because Uber really wasn’t an option due to the traffic. It was faster to walk from destination to destination instead of sitting in traffic for over 30 minutes trying to travel a few blocks. Speaking of Uber there were established pickup points that Uber was utilizing.  Guess what, that made it even harder to get an Uber because everyone was gathering at those pickup points. My group ended up walking away from the crowds to try and get our Uber’s and we still ended up waiting for long periods of time.
6. Have a Plan. There were hundreds of events going on not sponsored by Essence that looked like they were pretty damn good. Had I done some research ahead of time I would have been two-stepping at a day party or attending the all-white yacht party.  I do love a good day party but I am kinda over “partying in general”. Be prepared for the additional expense associated with these events. They are pricey but if you aren’t attending the concerts this might be a great alternative.

I already know I want to attend Essence Fest 2019 even if I only attend the concerts again. The only issue I had this year was Spirit Airlines. They are a low-cost airline but low-cost doesn’t have to be janky.  Everything from check-in at Fort Lauderdale to flying back from New Orleans was a terrible experience. This was my first and last time flying with them, I’m good love, enjoy! If I had to do it over the only thing I would change would be deciding to stay outside of New Orleans to save money. Next year I’d rather be closer so I could enjoy more of the festivities.

Did you attend Essence Fest this year? How was your experience?