2ndline FAQ

We often get the same questions about 2ndlines, so we created a page to hopefully answer those for you! If you have any questions that aren’t listed below, please reach out to us!

1. Parasols & Umbrellas: Need handkerchiefs or parasols? We don’t provide handkerchiefs or parasols, but you can find some on Etsy or Amazon for affordable prices. Etsy has options to have handkerchiefs customized with cute images, or wedding dates if you go that route. Bella Umbrellas is a great store that offers parasol rentals. They also have a location on Magazine St if you’d like to check them out in person. Here’s their website: https://www.bellaumbrellarental.com/. 

2. Tip for the Band: Tip for the band is not required, but always appreciated by the musicians. I would say that more than half our clients opt to leave a tip, if that's helpful in your decision on whether or not to leave a tip for the band. If you do want to leave a tip and decide to leave cash, having the money easily divisible for musicians to split amongst themselves is great. Alternatively, I can add the tip to their direct deposit for the event if you don’t have smaller bills. 

3. Rain Policy: What do we do if it’s raining at the time of your parade? If it's raining the day of the event, we plan to parade in the rain, or have the band play indoors if you don’t want to parade in the rain.

We cannot guarantee a refund from NOPD, and NOPD only cancels for rare occasions, like weather related emergencies. For context, our last cancellation with NOPD was for Hurricane Ida in 2021.

We don't cancel musicians in the event of rain. The musicians held the date and time slot for the client that could not be backfilled by an indoor event. We do want to pay musicians for holding the timeslot, as most musicians likely turned down other work to be available for our events. There are two options:

  1.  Parade in the rain.

  2.  Have the band perform indoors, as long as it's okay with the venue to have the band inside. Please note, if you do not have a venue booked, we are not responsible for securing a performance space for the band to perform for you indoors. The responsibility to secure venues for performances falls with the client, not with us.

If we parade in the rain, NOPD and the band can make modifications to the route for safety reasons, and just out of respect for the musicians and officers that are doing the parade in the rain. For example, if the route can be shortened to end at the same ending location, the musicians, or officers may do that. Also, the band will parade in the rain, but beyond the short parade, we do not ask them to perform standing in the rain, if they're performing beyond the parade route, we do want them to be covered. 

4. Be in Front: If this parade is to celebrate you, you want to be in front of the band! The first line refers to the stars of the parade, like the wedding couple, birthday person, graduate, bachelor, bachelorette, that person should be in front of the band, and the rest of the party should follow behind the band as the “secondline.” This is tradition, but it really elevates the photos to feature the star of the show while being able to clearly see the band in the backdrop. If Abby is present, she will help guide the couple, or star of the show to the front if she can. She’s not able to attend all events, so it’s great to keep in mind that once you see the band, you should make it your mission to get in front of the parade. If you don’t know your route, that’s okay! The police officers usually indicate the direction you’re heading and will let you know when to turn. It can be helpful to know what your ending destination looks like, so you don’t pass it up, but otherwise, you’ll be good to go if you just keep your eye on the cops.

5. Pedicabs: Longer parade routes are totally fine with us, but sometimes we notice guests struggling after the 6 block mark. If you have a guest that might struggle with keeping up on the parade route, you should consider a pedicab! This isn’t a service we offer, but we can recommend Bike Taxi Unlimited for providing reliable services & reservations. Here’s their website: https://neworleansbiketaxi.com/.

6. Run of Show: Your musicians are booked on the event in advance. The day before your event, Abby sends out a group text to the musicians that are booked for your event. The text includes the call time, dismissal time, location, dress code and other important details for the event. If Abby is available, she is the on-site contact and liaison on behalf of the band. She’s not able to attend all events, in which case we have a musician that is designated a “Lead Musician” for the event, that will run things on our end. When Abby, or the lead musician, arrives on site, they will text, or call the Band Liaison on your contract, then touch base with musicians and the police escorts.

Lead Musician Memo:

The lead musician that will be the contact for you on-site is responsible for touching base with the other musicians to make sure everyone is nearby at call time, touching base with your band liaison to get any additional instructions for other musicians, like looking to your liaison for a cue to start, or where the band should be positioned at start time. If we're handling the police permit and escort for a parade, the lead musician will greet the police and sign the necessary paperwork before the parade.

In the past, we've had people try to contact the lead musician to try and change major details about the performance- contract times, location changes, etc. The lead musician is not responsible for facilitating major performance changes that would fall outside of the details of our contract, or making changes that would require a new contract to be signed. If a major change is needed, please reach out to Abby directly.