NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – New Orleans is more than ready for 2016, but are you?
At some places, like the Bourbon O Bar at 730 Bourbon Street, inside the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, the champagne is already being poured. Bar Manager Cheryl Charming gave some Dallas visitors trinkets so they could “practice” for the midnight countdown.
As for locals with no set plans?
“If they want to come down on Bourbon Street and have a nice place to go and not have to be in all the chaos, then this is the bar to be in,” says Charming, who says her champagne cocktail of choice is the French 75.
At the Bourbon O, handcrafted cocktails are served in glass, not plastic. There will be live music, and the best part for procrastinators: no reservations are needed.
“First come, first served. We have seats for 75 people” says Charming, who will be handing out hats and horns at 11 pm, and free champagne at midnight.
If you want to get funky, the recently re-opened Joy Theater on Canal Street still has tickets for its New Year’s Eve show. The lineup for “A Truly Funky Affair” includes George Porter Jr., of The Meters and the UK funk-soul quartet, The New Mastersounds. Tickets start at $50.
At the Ritz-Carlton, local legend Jeremy Davenport will be performing at his namesake lounge from 9 pm to 1 am, and Communications Manager Kristen Barnes says you won’t need reservations, but you will need your dancing shoes.
It’s too late for a full-service sit-down dinner at the Ritz-Carlton, but a bar menu will be available in the lounge, and you don’t need a reservation.
If you opt to join the crowd in Jackson Square, the free music there starts at 9 pm. If you’ve never seen the fleur-de-lis drop at midnight, you’ll want to be in place early to watch that happen, followed by fireworks over the Mississippi.