A Big Thank-You to Essence!

The Essence Festival returned to New Orleans for the second year after Katrina July 4-6, and once again, it was a boon for the city as well as a heck of a good time for the close to 200,000 festival-goers who came to the city for the event. (Some say higher, some lower, but that's the figure I'm going with.) The hotels were full, the casino was jumping, and every night Bourbon Street was nearly impassable.

There's talk in some circles that Essence participants do not spend their money as they might in the city's shops, restaurants, and businesses, and that fest-goers aren't the world's biggest tippers, but there can be no doubt that a group of such magnitude coming to the city is a bottom-line positive thing. We can always work with the Essence folks to do better marketing and promotion of the many other attractions the city has to offer, and help educate ALL our visitors on the etiquette and necessity for tipping. (So few other cities have nightclubs with live music where it is expected that the band has to be tipped, for example. But in New Orleans, if the band doesn't make good tips, they can't pay bills.)

One thing that particularly struck me about Essence -- and had to occur to any person who saw the thousands of Essence guests on the streets -- was how gorgeous, absolutely stunning, the Essence women are. It was like a case study in How Many Ways Are There to be a Beautiful Black Woman. The apparent answer to that hypothetical question is, "About 100,000."

The beautiful black women at Essence were very young, youngish, middle-aged, and oldish, into their 70s. Their skin color ranged from pale olive and coffee with lots of cream to tan and dark beige to rich chocolate and dark coffee to nearly ebony. They were reedy slender, skinny, shapely, curvy, REALLY curvy, classic hourglass, and large. They dressed to the nines, wore beautiful jewelry and accessories, and walked with style and grace. They held their heads high, looking this way and that at the sights of the city -- while providing quite the feast for the eyes themselves.

While during Essence New Orleanians might have lamented the lack of on-street parking, the high prices of parking lots (I saw $30, $40 and even $70 prices posted on private lots and hotels!), the closed-off downtown streets, and the challenge of walking in the French Quarter day or night with around 200,000 new folks -- in the end, as always, The Party With a Purpose that is Essence was a gift to the city.

Thanks, Essence, and a big NOLA shout-out to all the gorgeous sistahs who graced our city that weekend.