Beignet Fest is back on September 23rd in New Orleans

It's a sweet time in New Orleans because Beignet Fest returns on Saturday, September 23rd, from 10 am to 6 pm at New Orleans City Park Festival Grounds. Beignet Festival was founded in 2016 by Amy and Sherwood Collins whose son, Liam, who was diagnosed with autism at 3 years old. Soon after they discovered that New Orleans was lacking opportunities for children who are on the Autism spectrum. They wanted to do something to help their son and all the other families in New Orleans who were also struggling to find programs. Bringing together the overwhelming need for programs to assist children with Autism and their idea about a festival centered around beignets, they created the Beignet Fest and the Beignet Fest Foundation, which makes grants with the proceeds from the festival to support New Orleans-area programs that serve children with development delays.

All proceeds from Beignet Fest benefit the 501c3 nonprofit organization, Beignet Fest Foundation. The mission of the Beignet Fest Foundation is to celebrate, embrace and empower the lives of children with autism and their families.

Photo byBeignet Fest

This year's Beignet Fest includes more than 80 delicious menu options with nearly 50 unique takes on beignets, including last year’s festival winners, Loretta’s Praline Beignet and Crabmeat Beignet as well as Old School Eats' Blackberry Cloud Beignet. This year's festival also includes vegan and gluten-free beignets, ice cream stuffed beignets, bananas foster beignets, Ruby Slipper Café’s sweet potato cheesecake, espresso praline beignets and PJ’s pizza beignets that won’t be found anywhere other than at Beignet Fest.

In addition to the dozens of different beignet dishes from some of New Orleans' best restaurants, caterers, and food trucks, the festival promises to be a family-friendly fun day with live, local music performances, a kid's village, artist market, and beer garden.

Shrimp Salad BeignetsPhoto byBeignet Fest

Sherwood Collins, Executive Director of Beignet Fest Foundation said, "Having a child with a developmental delay requires accommodations that typical children don’t need. Our son, Liam, was diagnosed with autism at age three and we found out really quickly that New Orleans was particularly lacking in opportunities for children on the spectrum. We wanted to do something to help Liam and the thousands of other families in New Orleans struggling to find programs. So, we brought together the tremendous need for programs and the idea of a food festival centered around beignets – one of the most photographed foods on social media, let alone iconic to New Orleans. We founded Beignet Fest and Beignet Fest Foundation eight years ago haven’t looked back since."

When asked about any plans to add additional events in the future, Sherwood said, "After taking a few years off due to COVID, we’re surpassing pre-pandemic numbers and feel a renewed sense energy and momentum. Our goal is to continue scaling the event year-over-year so we can continue to maximize our impact to provide opportunities and experiences for kids in the autism community."

General admission tickets to Beignet Fest are on sale now. Prices are $20 for adults, kids 12 and under are free. VIP tickets are also available for $50 for adults and $25 for kids 5-17 years old.

To learn more about the Beignet Fest Foundation and to purchase tickets to this year's festival, go to: https://beignetfest.com/