Bayou Boogaloo bounces back from a wicked storm
It's a small miracle that Bayou Boogaloo, the annual music, food and craft festival in Mid-City, opened on time Saturday (May 19) morning at 11 a.m., after a wicked early summer storm ripped across the site just hours before.
On the eve of the fest's Friday opening, high winds tumbled a row of concession booths onto an adjacent city street, collapsed several craft vendor tents, battered the music stages and killed electrical power. What the wind didn't disrupt, the rain did.
But the wind has died, the parched ground along Bayou St. John has soaked up the rain, generators are pumping out juice and the stage speakers are blasting a Dr. John recording to prove their concert-worthiness. Festival founder Jared Zeller said the amazing bounce back was due to "the most dedicated, resilient people."
We couldn't be prouder or luckier," he added.
Ben Faulks, director of the Positive Vibrations Foundation that pays musicians' fees at Bayou Boogaloo, said his organization will compensate the musicians who were rained out Friday.
