Free no more: Admission to 2015 Satchmo SummerFest will cost $5

The Satchmo SummerFest no longer is free. Admission to the 2015 edition of the annual summertime celebration of Louis Armstrong's legacy will be $5, but still free for children 12 or younger.

 

The new fee -- minimal when compared to the price of a ticket to most music festivals -- is intended to "keep the quality of the event high and build towards growth and future expansion," the festival said in a press release.

 

The addition of an admission charge is the only major change to the blueprint of the 15th anniversary Satchmo SummerFest, which is July 30 to Aug. 2. The main music performances take place on the grounds of the Louisiana State Museum's Old U.S. Mint at the foot of Esplanade Avenue.

 

Confirmed 2015 performers include Ellis Marsalis, PresHall Brass, Kermit Ruffins, Deacon John & the Ivories, Lars Edegran, the New Birth Brass Band, the Rebirth Brass Band, Robin Barnes, and Japanese trumpeter Yoshio Toyama & the Dixie Saints, a festival favorite. The full lineup will be released later in June.

 

The festival was founded in 2001 to mark Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong's 100th birthday. Satchmo SummerFest is produced by French Quarter Festivals Inc., the same nonprofit that produces the free French Quarter Festival in April and the free Christmas New Orleans Style series in December.

 

The 2015 Satchmo SummerFest opens with a July 30 benefit for FQFI at Le Petit Theatre, featuring a screening of the 1956 movie "High Society." "High Society" stars Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly. Tickets are $50, available at fqfi.org. Attendees to the red carpet event are encouraged to wear hats, gloves and seersucker.