Baton Rouge’s newest festival bloomed earlier this month. In only its second year, the downtown music and arts festival grew to a 40-artist lineup—and with Big Freedia headlining, at that.
Jarvis Antwine was inspired to start Bloom Festival after sneaking into New Orleans Jazz Festival when he was 19. After years of selling water, parking cars and working other odd jobs during the festival, Antwine wanted to offer a new festival to his hometown of Baton Rouge. In March 2017, he held the first Bloom Music and Arts Festival at the Riverfront Plaza.
This year’s Bloom lineup included Big Freedia, Made Groceries, The Smooth Cat & The 9th Life, Alabaster Stag and more. Read 225‘s full writeup on the fest, and check out some photos from the Oct. 6 event below.
