Keith Lee, who’s known for traveling nationwide to highlight the best food from small businesses and mom-and-pop shops that might otherwise go unnoticed, is launching a national food festival in New Orleans this spring with support from restaurateur Larry Morrow.
The event will feature live entertainment, family activities and some of the city’s top cuisine. Here’s what else we know about Lee’s upcoming festival.
Keith Lee’s first Familee Festival kicks off on May 16, 2026
On Tuesday, Lee announced in a TikTok video that his inaugural Familee Festival on May 16 in New Orleans would feature “food, family and music” and took over a year of planning to organize.
“I think it’s going to be the best festival on planet Earth,” Lee said in the video.
Lee initially announced the festival at an event, where he handed out free gumbo and fried fish meals under New Orleans’ I-10 interstate on Dec. 13, according to Nola.com.
Festivalgoers can expect food, fun and music at Keith Lee’s Familee Festival
Since the food festival kicks off in New Orleans, Lee said there will be music featured from that city in partnership with Live Nation Urban, a subgroup of Live Nation focusing on hip-hop, R&B, gospel and Afrobeats, according to Essence. The event will also have music geared toward children.
Lee said the Familee Festival will also be a family-based event, where everyone can come together with their friends and loved ones to enjoy festivities like carnival rides and obstacle courses, which will include his family competing against other families for a prize.
“If we win, we’re giving it away; if ya’ll win, ya’ll keep it,” Lee said in his video.
Keith Lee says his Familee Festival is ‘going to be the best festival to ever exist’
In 2023, Lee and his family traveled across the country for the Keith Lee and Family Food Tour for five months. They tried food from restaurants across Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and New York City, Blavity reported.
After visiting those cities, Lee ranked New Orleans as the top city for food. Now, he’s returning to the “Big Easy” and said the festival will be the best of its kind.
“I think this is going to be the best festival to ever exist,” Lee said in the video, per Essence. “And I want everybody who want to be there, May 16th in New Orleans, to be there.”
While details are still forthcoming, Lee said people can sign up for text alerts as tickets go on sale Feb. 9.
