Hire Jazz Fest New Orleans Event Staff at the Fair Grounds
Activation staff, brand ambassadors, production assistants and hospitality hosts from New Orleans for the brands at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, for one weekend or both, and for your evening events across the city.
Jazz Fest New Orleans Staffing at the Fair Grounds Race Course
Eleven8 provides event staff at New Orleans Jazz Fest, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, for the brands, agencies, food and drink companies and hospitality hosts working at the Fair Grounds Race Course and around the city. The festival runs over two four-day weekends, Thursday to Sunday, in late April and early May. In 2026 it took place on April 23-26 and April 30-May 3 and drew about 475,000 people; in 2027 the dates are April 22-25 and April 29-May 2. Our New Orleans event staff work your space on the grounds and your events in town, for one weekend or both.
The festival day is short and bright. Gates open in the late morning and the music on the grounds ends around seven in the evening, so a brand's busiest hours fall between lunch and the last sets, often in strong sun on a racetrack infield with little shade. When it rains, the infield turns to mud. We plan shifts around those hours, rotate staff into the shade, keep water and covers for stock close at hand and set up the space to cope with heat and downpours alike.
Food matters here as much as music, and the food booths are run by local vendors chosen by the festival. Brand sampling has to fit around them rather than compete, and the festival sets the rules for what can be handed out and where. Parades also pass through the grounds: second lines, social aid and pleasure clubs and Mardi Gras Indians. Our staff give way, keep the path clear and never treat a parade as a backdrop for a photo. That respect is what the crowd looks for in a brand.
The Fair Grounds sit in a residential neighborhood off Esplanade Avenue, where parking is scarce and the streets fill early, so staff come in by bike, shuttle, bus or carpool, with call times built around the traffic. Between the two weekends there are three quiet weekdays, which we use to restock, repair and brief again, so the second weekend starts as well as the first. Brands that come back in July for Essence Festival often keep the same local team.
Use the quote form to say which weekend or weekends you need, what your space is and whether you are hosting evening events, and a plan and a price will come back to you.
Jazz Fest New Orleans Shift Plan for Heat and Two Weekends
At New Orleans Jazz Fest our 11-step process is built around a short, hot festival day and two weekends with a break between them. Crews arrive before the gates, work through the afternoon peak in shifts that leave time out of the sun, and close the space when the music stops around seven. The same core team works both weekends, so nothing has to be taught twice.
Your account manager is named when you book and stays on the job until the report after the second weekend, with our operations office supporting them at no added cost. They pass the crew's details to your team for the festival's passes, agree build and restock times for the weekdays between weekends and confirm uniforms. Your team's instructions and the crew's updates run in two different chats, and evening events in the city get their own plan and their own crew list.
Each morning staff check in by geo-location, walk the space and the paths nearby with the lead, check water, shade and rain covers, and take their places before the gates open. A crew chat links the space, the runners and your team until the grounds clear in the evening.
Jazz Fest New Orleans Crew Routine on the Fair Grounds
Thursday to Sunday, two weekends at the Fair GroundsJazz Fest New Orleans Crew Positions on the Fair Grounds
Our Fair Grounds Activation Staff look after your brand's space at New Orleans Jazz Fest from the morning gates to the last set. They welcome visitors, run the tasting, game or photo spot, keep a short line moving through the busy early afternoon and keep the space clean and tidy in heat or rain. They rotate out of the sun on a schedule and keep water and shade close for themselves and your guests. When a parade comes past, they clear the path and step back. Gates, wristbands and crowd management across the grounds are the festival's responsibility.
Brands We've Supported at Jazz Fest New Orleans
The companies that hire us at New Orleans Jazz Fest range from national drink, phone and car brands with a space on the grounds to New Orleans hotels, restaurants, music venues and local brands that want to make the most of the busiest weeks of the spring. Record labels and music companies host their artists' guests, and agencies run hospitality for clients flying in for one weekend. All of them want staff who are proud of the city and know how to behave at its festival. Our New Orleans brand ambassadors bring that local knowledge to every space we staff.
Eleven8 is an independent staffing agency. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, its producers or the Fair Grounds Race Course. "Jazz Fest" and "New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival" are trademarks of their owners. We provide event staff to the brands and agencies activating at the festival and around it. All marks belong to their owners and are used for identification only.
How to Book Jazz Fest New Orleans Event Staff
Jazz Fest New Orleans Night Event Staff Across the City
When the music stops at the Fair Grounds, New Orleans keeps going. Brands, labels and hotels hold club nights, dinners, brass band parties and late shows across the French Quarter, the Marigny, the Warehouse District and Uptown on almost every festival night. These need a separate evening crew who know the city's venues and keep their energy late. Our New Orleans check-in staff look after the guest list, the extra names and the head count at the door, so your invited guests get in easily and the room never gets too full.
Staffing Services
Explore our wide range of staffing solutions
Promotional & Experiential Staff
Trade & Conference Staff
Local Crew Benefits at Jazz Fest New Orleans
Local Staff Who Know the Festival
Only about 3.5% of applicants join Eleven8, and for New Orleans Jazz Fest we pick locals: people from the city's music, food and service world, many of whom have been going to the festival for years. They know the tents, the food, the parades and the neighborhood, and they talk with visitors the way a good New Orleans host would. That local knowledge is the first thing a visitor notices about your space, and the thing they remember afterward.
Two Weekends, One Steady Team
The festival runs Thursday to Sunday on two weekends, with three weekdays in between. We keep one core team for both weekends, so the second Thursday starts with people who already know your space and your product. The quiet days are used to rest, restock, repair and brief again. A crew that is fresh on the last Sunday is worth more than a bigger crew that has run out of energy by the second weekend.
Respect for the Culture Around Your Space
At this festival the culture is the reason people come. Our staff give way to parades, keep the path clear for second lines and Mardi Gras Indians, never use a performance as a backdrop without permission and speak about the city with real pride. They make sure your space adds to the day rather than interrupting it. Visitors notice that quickly, and it decides whether they see your brand as a welcome guest at the festival or as an intruder.
Insured and Ready for Heat and Rain
Every person we send is covered by our insurance, and we can issue certificates naming the festival, the Fair Grounds or your agency when needed. New Orleans in late April and early May can be hot and humid in the sun and stormy without warning. Our leads rotate staff into shade, keep water close, cover stock and electronics before rain and know the plan if the festival pauses for weather.
Grounds and City Events Under One Plan
Brands at the festival often have a space on the grounds, a hospitality area and a run of evening events in the city. We staff all of them under one account manager. Day and night crews are different people, so nobody works both, but they share a briefing, a uniform plan and one daily report, and you get one invoice for both weekends.
Help Within the Hour
Someone at our operations desk picks up from the morning call until your final night event wraps, every festival day. It can send a standby, add hands for a busy afternoon or end a shift early when a storm arrives, and it tells you in a short message what changed.
At New Orleans Jazz Fest the people at your space are part of a day that matters deeply to the city. We send local crews who know the festival, respect its culture and keep going through heat, rain and two long weekends, with a separate team for your evenings in town. If your brand also comes to New Orleans in January, read about staffing at the Sugar Bowl. To plan your weekends at the Fair Grounds, send us your Jazz Fest New Orleans plans.
Elevate Client Feedback
Robert N.
Top Notch Service
They were professional. Polite. Hard working. Friendly. And got the job done. Will definitely use them again.
EK C.
It was a great pleasure that I can work with you. All Elevate members successfully led KCON. I hope everything goes as well in future events as it did this time! If i ever go to LA for events, I will definitely reach out to you :)
Eugene R.
We were really happy with the team everyone was incredibly helpful and nice to work with. Thank you for selecting such professional people for our event!
Jazz Fest New Orleans Night Event Staffing Questions
Elevate Blog
Get an Instant Quote
Thank you for your submission!
Our Team will contact you regarding your staffing needs momentarily.