NEW ORLEANS — Mark your calendars for April 19th-25th for NOLA Navy Week.
NOLA Navy Week will celebrate New Orleans’ Tricentennial with the U.S. Navy and “Tall Ships from Around the World.”
Visitors and locals will head for the French Quarter and the eastbank of the Mississippi River to visit various military ship vessels. There will be lots of fun activities for the family.
“This Tricentennial event will be one of the most exciting for citizens and visitors,” said Mark Romig, President and CEO of 2018 NOLA Foundation and New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (NOTMC).
In addition to activities for visitors and locals, some 2,000 sailors will descend upon the city participating in three days of community service projects including building homes, beautifying parks, and planting trees. A seafood cook-off will once again be held between the ships’ various culinary specialists and Louisiana chefs. Navy concerts will fill the air throughout the week, as will fireworks on both Saturday, April 22nd and Sunday, April 23rd.
Tours of the Navy ships will be offered to groups on the mornings of April 20th and 24th, and the ships will be opened to the general public daily in the afternoons. Visitors will get the opportunity to see six ships from three countries this year including the U.S. Navy’s USS Kearsarge, USS James Dunham, USCG Cypress, and USCGC Benjamin Dailey as well as the FS LaResoulue from France, and the HMCS Charlottetown from Canada. Four beautiful tall ships will also grace the Mississippi and two smaller ones will sail on Lake Pontchartrain.