The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has always been a tonic in a city that is a tall, cool drink of tourism. The annual spring affair at the Fair Grounds Race Course mixes regional music with arts, crafts, food, and beverages. More than half a million visitors attend the two-weekend party held within walking distance of the French Quarter. Local Rotarians have sold drinks here every year since the first festival was held in 1970.

Bob Haeuser is staffing the stand during the second weekend of the 2008 Jazz Fest. The sun is shining and lines are long. In the evenings, waits are also lengthy at popular New Orleans restaurants such as Acme Oyster House, Felix’s, and Mother’s.

Tourism is definitely back after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. 

Rotarians here know the real New Orleans, secret places to go on the downbeat. “Get a roast beef po’ boy at the Parkway Bakery,” says Haeuser after pouring a couple of frothy beers. “I like Parasol’s, which is in the Irish Channel [neighborhood]. It’s a sandwich shop. A real dive, but good food.” Parasol’s Bar was established in 1952, about a mile and a half upriver from the French Quarter. The po’ boys are served on crisp French bread drenched in gravy.

“I like all the restaurants in Bucktown (near Lake Pontchartrain),” adds Haeuser, who was born and raised in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans. “R & O’s (in Metairie) [has] fresh seafood. Early May is the perfect time for seafood because crawfish are at their peak. Soft-shell crabs are coming in. There’s still good oysters to be had.”

John Meyer, 62, who runs the Rotary club stand and has lived in New Orleans his entire life, adds: “Don’t forget Central Grocery in the French Quarter. That’s the birthplace of the muffuletta.” The sandwich features soft Italian bread stuffed with salami, ham, and provolone, and dressed with vinegar and spices.

The Rotary Club of Carrollton (New Orleans) and the Rotary Club of Metairie, just north of town, share prime real estate at the fairgrounds. Rotarians, friends, and family volunteer to sell beer and soft drinks at the stand near the popular Acura Stage. As the main stage, it features headline acts, which this year included Jimmy Buffett, Santana, Stevie Wonder, and the Neville Brothers, in their first hometown concert appearance since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.

For local music, Skip Weber, 2007-08 Metairie club president, suggests Café Brasil, in the Faubourg Marigny district, as a chestnut for live music. The cozy, Bohemian club is a coffee house during the day and at night morphs into a music room featuring local bands playing rock, Caribbean, and jazz. The crowd often tumbles out into the street peddling offbeat trinkets in the style of a Grateful Dead market.

Weber also recommends the venerable Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. “Just walk up and down Bourbon Street and you’ll be exposed to a multitude of different venues that beckon you,” he says.

Weber, 61, has sold commercial real estate in New Orleans for 40 years. His office is in the Warehouse District near Emeril’s Restaurant. “It has taken a while for people to learn that the tourist areas of New Orleans were not terribly affected by the storm, and [tourists] are gradually coming back,” he says. “This summer, convention business will be greatly off, but we’re expecting a healthy 2009. The music is great and the food is incomparable. It’s just fun to walk around downtown, and everything is close to the hotels.”

Hotels are back, too. According to the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, as of mid-May more than 200 area accommodations are open, with 33,500 of 38,000 hotel rooms available. The iconic Fairmont New Orleans, which closed after Katrina, was sold to a local developer for $17 million and is being refurbished as a Waldorf-Astoria to the tune of $100 million.

There are also ample shopping opportunities. Weber suggests Royal Street and Magazine Street, the home of Jim Russell Records, a treasure trove of local rock, soul, and funk 45s, LPs and CDs. Local legend has it that Paul McCartney offered to buy the entire store when he was in town in early 1975 recording Venus and Mars with his band Wings.

The Rotarians here never considered leaving after Katrina. Haeuser, 54, lives with his wife and two children on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. “After the storm, I stayed because this is my home,” he says matter-of-factly. “My roots are here. I love to travel, but I don’t think I’d live anywhere else.” He operates an independent local insurance agency he purchased from his father, Fred. And Fred purchased it from his father. That’s the New Orleans way. 

Behind Haeuser, volunteers are dealing beers and soft drinks. About 55 people each day are working four-hour shifts. The clubs make a commission of $4.75 on every case of beer and soft drinks sold, and they split the proceeds.

“This is a major fundraiser,” says Haeuser, who is second-in-command at the stand. “Over the seven days of Jazz Fest, we will net between $17,000 and $18,000.” Weber adds, “We are going to contribute to a local playground that has been used as a drainage pond during big storms, several programs for the Boy Scouts, repairs to the radio transmitter for the radio station of the blind, a medical mission to Nicaragua, and a nice contribution to the scholarships for local kids who need money for college.”

The Carrolton club donates Jazz Fest funds to reading initiatives and children’s hospitals. “And we’ve given money to the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic,” says Meyer. “Since the storm, a German Rotary club partnered with us to fund local musicians to do gigs in our schools. They put up thousands of dollars, as we did. Davis Rogan (keyboardist-vocalist) has played in 23 schools.” Music is the heartbeat of New Orleans. It keeps the region alive for residents and tourists throughout the year – thanks to Jazz Fest fans and their thirst for beer.