According to the French Quarter Festival organizers, a new attendance record was set this year. The 2023 festival drew in a crowd of 875,000. Festival organizers say attendance for the free event from Thursday, April 13, to Sunday, April 16, was 875,000, the largest total in its 40-year history. This was impressive because there was a pause in the festival due to rainstorms. 
The free event had no tickets given out, so how did they calculate the attendance? This is a big question due to the fact that there are more than one entrance, and there are 20 stages from Old U.S. Mint on Esplanade Ave all the way to the Aquarium of the Americas. The F.E.S.S. security had their personnel keep count at the entry and exit points that accessed the major stages. In order to account for patrons who went from stage to stage and were counted more than once, French Quarter Festivals Inc. will adjust the counts down by a certain percentage to account for the repeat entrances and exits.
The total also does not count the smaller stages that are on Royal Street, Bourbon Street and the French Market stage. Another indicator was that the hotel occupancy was way more than the levels seen in 2022 according to Walter J. Leger III who is the President & CEO of New Orleans & Company.
