NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans musicians and supporters of community radio station WWOZ will participate in a second line parade starting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28 at the French Market Building (1008 N. Peters Street) and ending at the Jax Brewery Millhouse (600 Decatur Street). The event will mark the station’s official move away from its home of the last 17 years to new digs about four blocks away.
“This is going to be a fun and festive way for us to get into our new space,” said WWOZ General Manager Beth Arroyo Utterback. “We’re excited for what’s to come for us at Jax and are thrilled that so many of New Orleans’ musicians and culture bearers will be there to lead WWOZ in this celebratory second line parade.”
In 2021, WWOZ announced plans to move because of the need for extensive renovations at the French Market Building.
A plan to buy a building at 717 St. Charles Avenue was not approved by the board of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, which owns WWOZ, so station leaders began brainstorming new locations.
That’s when the Jax option presented itself. The building’s owner and developer Darryl Berger, who converted the former brewery into a shopping and dining destination in the 1980s, is a WWOZ fan who offered a long-term lease of roughly 7,400 square feet of space on the building’s top floor.
“It’s really fabulous,” said Utterback. “The Berger Company has worked to make this something better than we could have imagined. We have about a thousand more square feet than before, and we have the ‘best seats in the house’ providing a world-class view of the French Quarter and the Mississippi River.”
The space also includes two outdoor terraces.
Participants in the second line parade will include James Andrews & the Crescent City All-Stars, Treme Brass Band, Cyril Neville, John Boutte, Kermit Ruffins, Amanda Shaw, Charmaine Neville, Little Freddie King, Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes and Shamarr Allen. Organizers expect to see members of the Black Masking Indian community and various walking clubs. Listeners are encouraged to come out to celebrate.
The WWOZ Second Line is sponsored by Corporate Realty.
WWOZ is a listener-supported, volunteer-programmed community radio station.
