Plus: A list of this week’s meetings and events

By Blake Paterson | October 27, 2026

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Perdido Street, an independent newsletter covering power and politics in Louisiana.

My name is Blake Paterson and I’m the founding editor of Perdido Street.

I spent seven years reporting on state and local politics for The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, first in Baton Rouge and then in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans.

Now, I’m bringing the story straight to you.

My goal is to produce original reporting that sheds light on the powerful people and institutions shaping our state.

Subscribers to Perdido Street will receive a weekday newsletter with exclusive stories on politics, government and business in Louisiana. You’ll also get access to watchdog reporting, a weekly digest of meetings and events, and links to notable news from across the state.

The newsletter gets its name from the street where New Orleans City Hall is located. In Spanish, perdido means “lost.”

My hope is that Perdido Street’s rigorous, fact-based reporting will help readers better understand how their government works and how they can engage in the democratic process.

If you’d like to support my work, consider becoming a paid member.

Now, onto today’s top story.

The Essence Festival of Culture has been a fixture of New Orleans’ Fourth of July weekend for more than 30 years.

But for the second year in a row, Essence Fest is late on paying its vendors.

That’s thrown a wrench in the festival’s negotiations with Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration over a contract that would allow it to return to New Orleans in 2027.

With its contract in limbo, festival organizers have reached out to officials in Houston and Atlanta in recent months to discuss relocating Essence Fest, sources told Perdido Street.

If Essence Fest does decide to leave the Crescent City, the Moreno administration has said it would likely issue a competitive solicitation for festival organizers interested in filling the weekend slot.

“Ensuring vendors are paid has been a consistent focus in every conversation with festival organizers,” Kevin Ferguson, Moreno’s chief of staff, told Perdido Street. “It’s disappointing that these issues continue to persist.”

Kirk McDonald, CEO of the festival’s parent company, Sundial Media & Technology Group, told Perdido Street that negotiations with New Orleans are ongoing and that Essence Fest is committed to paying its vendors.

“Essence has paid approximately $11 million to Louisiana partners for the 2026 festival, and we are proud of the local businesses that helped build it with us. Many have been with us for years, and every one of them will be made whole,” McDonald said.

In recent weeks, however, at least two out-of-state vendors have contacted Moreno directly to share their frustrations over late payments and a lack of communication from Essence Fest officials.

“Obviously, we are very concerned at this point as this is an extremely large receivable and we are a small Company,” a vendor who is owed more than $500,000 told Moreno in an Oct. 12 email obtained by Perdido Street.

State Rep. Jack McFarland, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, also received the email. He told Perdido Street that legislative leaders are unlikely to approve state funding for the festival in the future.

Under a now-expired set of agreements with Louisiana Economic Development, the festival since 2021 has received more than $7.6 million in state funding. Its contract with the city, which expired in September, entitled it to another $1.7 million in direct payments annually.

McDonald said some of the delayed payments are because Essence Fest “has not received the full civic payment guaranteed under its contracts with local civic partners.” He said the festival was still owed $200,000 as of Oct. 19, though he wouldn’t say which partners hadn’t paid.

Essence Fest faced similar criticism over late payments in February, when local officials learned that the festival still owed the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center nearly $400,000 and three local vendors a combined $3.8 million for their work on the 2025 festival. Those disputes were later resolved.

But the vendor payments aren’t the only issue giving the Moreno administration pause.

A 21-page analysis of this year’s festival, produced by the Moreno administration and obtained by Perdido Street through a public records request, identified several “concerning trends” with the management of the taxpayer-supported event.

It said the festival’s decision to shuffle major acts like Babyface and Patti LaBelle after tickets had already been sold resulted in “significant frustration among traveling fans who booked tickets for specific days.”

It said problems persisted with timely payments to third-party vendors, “which nearly created a work stoppage” just days before the event.

And it said that local hotels that had set aside rooms for Essence Fest attendees “experienced the lowest room pick-up” in the history of the festival.

The Moreno administration offered to extend Essence Fest’s contract by one year, though festival officials are holding out for a multi-year agreement, sources told Perdido Street.

Speaking on WBOK-AM this morning, McDonald said Essence Fest wants to stay in New Orleans, but that they also have to “make sure the institution is protected.”

Click here for the full story and to view a copy of the post-festival report.

Subscribers to Perdido Street will receive a weekly calendar of public meetings and events in metro New Orleans.

Here’s what’s on tap for today: