Photos: Is that the Super Bowl or is it just any given day in the Big Easy?

The Super Bowl in New Orleans adds spectacle upon spectacle. The Big Easy’s normally far-from-normal Bourbon Street is easing into a fervor sure to be at a party hardy pitch by the time Sunday’s big game kicks off.

The main event between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles under the bigtop of Caesars Superdome comes with plenty of sideshows on the days leading up to the grand finale. By mid-week a smattering of football fans could be spotted along Bourbon Street where they encountered the usual assortment of colorful characters and heard jazz pouring out of the bars that line the bacchanalian thoroughfare.

In New Orleans, where something as unusual as one of the world’s biggest sporting events seems to be just a part of the everyday unusual that resides here, something really has to achieve the title “super” to stand out.

Among all that vibrant culture, the drab fatigues worn by members of the Louisiana National Guard stood out while they stood guard at barricades meant to prevent another rampage like the one that took the lives of more than a dozen people earlier in this young year.

On Thursday, over at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center along the banks of the Mississippi River, more fans meandered through the Super Bowl Experience. Part museum, part theme park, the tribute to the NFL’s biggest game has enough Chiefs displays to make any hater see red. The bedazzled Chiefs football helmet on display there doesn’t seem like that much of an oddity in New Orleans.

Not far from the people fantasizing about being on the football field Thursday were some of the people who are actually going to be on the field Sunday. Not the players, but none other than halftime headliner Kendrick Lamar and other musical entertainers who will sing during various times leading up to the game. They were all at a moderated interview conducted by halftime show sponsor Apple Music. Within that group was Jon Batiste, just another super talented native of New Orleans who will use his super talents to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

Here’s a look at how the Big Easy wears a visit from the Super Bowl.

This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM.