Parade Route Rules & Tips

This page is dedicated to clients that want to take part in planning their parade route. We’re happy to help find a route that works for you, but it’s best if you take the time to look at Google Maps, and reference the location you’re parading in to become familiar with one-way streets, which streets are closed at certain times, and which streets run the risk of requiring additional police officers, which will lead to additional costs.

It’s also important to note that your parade must stay within the 10-12 block limit, we cannot parade you from the Garden District to the French Quarter, or from the Bywater to the French Quarter. Your starting and ending location will have to stay within the same general area, and it’s possible with the rules we have to follow that we cannot take you as far as you may like.

Rules for Parade Route Planning:

-NOPD mandates a 10-12 block limit to 2ndline parades(roughly 20-30 minutes max).

-We must follow the flow of traffic, and parade in the direction of one-way streets, no parading the wrong way down a one-way. New Orleans is full of one-way streets, assume your parade is taking place on a one-way street, and check to make sure the direction you want to parade is possible.

-Your route must allow for a patrol car to lead the parade and follow behind the parade. We cannot create a route in the streets that requires the parade to go through a park, on a sidewalk, or through a pedestrian mall.

Central Business District Rules:

-Major Roads in the CBD: Canal St, Poydras, Loyola Ave, and most areas of the business district have restrictions during rush hour on weekdays, and parades must start at 6:30 PM, or later. If you're parading Monday-Friday in the CBD area this will likely apply. The CBD is from Canal Street to Calliope, and Convention Center Boulevard to Claiborne.

FQ Specific Parade Rules:

-We cannot parade down Bourbon St. any day after 6pm

-We cannot parade down Royal St between Orleans & Bienville while the pedestrian mall is in place. 11am-4pm on weekdays, 11am-7pm on weekends.

-We cannot parade through Jackson Square(except briefly if you've rented St. Louis Cathedral, or Cabildo).

Residential Neighborhoods:

-All parades in residential neighborhoods must be completed by 10:00 PM at the latest, meaning your parade will likely have to start no later than 9:30 PM, or 9:45 PM at the very latest, if you have a short route.

Additional Escort Costs:

-Parading two-lane, or three-lane streets will require additional police officers at your expense. Costs are estimated and subject to change, but a rough estimate is $300 for two officers required if you're parading on a large street, but the city could require more depending on the location of your parade. Examples of these streets include:

*Decatur, Rampart, Magazine, St. Charles, Prytania, Poydras, Canal St, Loyola, St. Claude, CBD area, Chartres in the Bywater, and others*

-The best way to guarantee you only require 4 police officers to escort your parade and avoid additional fees is to keep your parade on single lane, one-way streets. This is not possible in certain areas, but it is possible in others, so if this is an important issue for you, please keep that in mind when picking your route.

Important Things to Keep in Mind:

-The parade cannot stop once it starts, and we are not responsible for pacing your parade. The band often gives the client a song at the beginning and a full song at the end, otherwise they will keep the parade moving once we’re in the streets. The client is welcome to attempt to pace the parade and go slower, but pacing the parade is not the responsibility of the musicians, and the police may encourage the parade to move faster if traffic is being held up.

-If you pick a long parade route, starting on time becomes very important for the musicians and the police officers. A 10-12 block parade takes the full 30 minutes the musicians are booked for. We do not want to leave our parade before it’s completed, but we do take our contract times seriously and will not shift the time on site if your event is running late, so please be diligent to cross check your timeline if your route is more than 9 blocks, and know that if your event is running behind, we may shorten your route in order to complete the parade within our contracted time frame.

Wedding Parade Advice & Disclaimers:

-It’s important for the police officers to maintain traffic flow during the parade. We do not offer to have the band play in the street or on the sidewalk in a busy part of town to entertain guests while wedding photos are being taken. Once the band starts their performance outside, the cops will be forced to initiate traffic control measures as people go into the street, and if the band performs for an extended period of time without moving, causing a traffic jam, the cops will come and direct the band to either start the parade, or stop and clear the street until it’s time to roll and the band will always comply with the police directives. We have been duped into holding up the street for 15-minutes while photos are being taken, and it’s really unfair to the band, the police officers and other people that are trying to navigate the city to be put in that situation. If the band is given a cue to start, and the couple isn’t outside after the first song, the band will pause and wait for them to come out before they resume the performance.

-If your parade is for a wedding, we don’t recommend parading more than 6-blocks for the sake of your guests. Venues often want 20-30 minutes to flip the space, encouraging their clients to have a longer parade, and we can only guarantee a lengthy parade if you make your route longer. We often notice guests struggling at the 6-block mark. Weddings have a variety of ages, physical capabilities and people are usually NOT wearing comfortable walking shoes, which can really damped your parade experience if you’re forced to walk for a long time without a break. To be clear, the band will parade 10-12 blocks if that’s what you want, they don’t have a problem walking a long parade route, this is professional advice from my experience. A 6-block parade also offers more buffer time in the event your event your event is not going as planned, which I do recommend.