Louisiana Parrot Heads – Son of a Sailor Fest is This Weekend

It was about one year ago lovers of the Parrot Head lifestyle from New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and countless other communities in Louisiana lost a kindred spirit. A man who loved the ocean loved laughter, and loved life had reached his final earthly port. For a while, we were sad about the passing of Jimmy Buffett. Then we realized that Jimmy wouldn't like that, so we turned our sadness into a celebration of his life and legacy. And alas, a new festival was born.

How do you celebrate a man whose life was one giant celebration? I would suppose you do that like you write a song. You just add another verse and keep the melody going. That's what the Son Of A Sailor Fest organizers are planning for this weekend.

The "festival" will be held in the true spirit of the Parrot Head tribe. The rules will be few, the vibe will be real, and those in attendance can simply join in where they feel the vibe the most. In other words, yes, there will be a parade. If you want to be in it, show up at the start with the appropriate attitude of spontaneous joy.

The festival will also include a wide variety of Parrot Head-approved bands and performers. It will also welcome A1A, the band that has become known as the Official Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band. The band features many former members of Jimmy's Coral Reefers and those who were part of Jimmy's decades-long career.

How To Attend The Son Of A Sailor Fest

The festival is set for Saturday, September 21, 2024. It will take place in downtown Mobile Alabama. The parade lineup will begin at 10 AM in the courtyard of the Riverview Plaza Hotel. The parade will step off at 11 AM with the Blow House Band leading the way. They will lead the parade to Cathedral Square at 11:15 AM.

The festival will offer two stages of live music. The first stage will be at Cathedral Square. The second stage will be just a few blocks away at the corner of Dauphin Street at the Joachim Street intersection. The first band to play on that stage begins at 2 PM.  For the complete festival lineup, you can visit here. 

Entrance into the festival is free. It's supposed to be a celebration of Gulf Western kinship that all of us across the Gulf South share. Last year's "festival" was simply a spontaneous outpouring of that kind of kinship. This year it will be a little more organized but you can still expect great music, street dancing, and maybe the sound of more than a few blenders and lost shakers of salt.

It looks as if this will be the perfect weekend for the party, the weather in Mobile should be wonderful, especially when you consider that the following weekend, the weekend of the 28th, we could be trying to reason with the Hurricane Season along the Gulf Coast. If we had to miss one, I'd rather miss the hurricane.