Fair Grounds Race Course is a thoroughbred racetrack in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, with racing on the site dating back to 1872 under the Louisiana Jockey Club, making it one of the oldest horseracing venues still operating in America. Located at 1751 Gentilly Boulevard, the track is now run by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company and remains best known for the Louisiana Derby, a key prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.
But for music fans, the Fair Grounds is best known as the year-round home of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Since 1972, the festival has taken over the track’s 145-acre infield each spring, transforming the racecourse into a sprawling, multi-stage celebration of jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, and Louisiana culture that has grown into one of the most beloved music festivals in the world.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: 1751 Gentilly Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Type: Thoroughbred racetrack and festival grounds
- Racetrack established: 1872 (Louisiana Jockey Club)
- Jazz Fest held here since: 1972
- Site size: About 145 acres
- Peak attendance: Nearly 500,000 across the festival run (pre-2020)
- Famous for: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest)
A Racetrack Turned Music Mecca
Outside of festival season, Fair Grounds Race Course operates as a working thoroughbred track with a one-mile dirt oval and a seven-furlong turf course, hosting live racing and the Grade II Louisiana Derby each winter and spring. The grandstand has been rebuilt more than once, including after a 1993 seven-alarm fire and again after Hurricane Katrina flooded the property in 2005, with racing resuming on Thanksgiving Day 2006.
Each April and May, though, the infield and surrounding grounds are reconfigured into a festival city. Founded in 1970 and moved to the Fair Grounds in 1972, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival built its identity around the site’s open space, allowing organizers to add stages and tents as the event grew from a modest gathering into a two-weekend, multi-day showcase.
Stages Across the Infield
Jazz Fest spreads performances across roughly a dozen stages and tents scattered over the racetrack grounds, including the Festival Stage, Gentilly Stage, Congo Square Stage, Blues Tent, Jazz Tent, and Gospel Tent, alongside food booths celebrating Louisiana cuisine and crafts areas highlighting regional artisans. The layout lets fans wander between genres, from second-line brass bands to headline pop and rock acts, all within the footprint of a working horse track.
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Fair Grounds Race Course FAQs
Is Fair Grounds Race Course a music venue or a racetrack?
Both. It operates as a thoroughbred racetrack most of the year, but each spring its 145-acre infield hosts the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, one of the country’s largest music festivals.
When did Jazz Fest start being held at the Fair Grounds?
The festival moved to the Fair Grounds Race Course in 1972, two years after its 1970 debut in Congo Square, and has been held there every year since.
How many people attend Jazz Fest at the Fair Grounds?
Attendance has grown from about 350 people at the 1970 debut to nearly 500,000 across the multi-day festival in recent pre-2020 years.
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Photo: See above / CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.