1) The sixth annual Downriver Festival on Saturday celebrates the environmental, cultural, and economic impact of the Mississippi River and the land it built through live music, cooking demonstrations, presentations, panels, and walking tours that explore this year’s theme "Gumbo & Daiquiris." Music this year includes Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Treme Lafitte Brass Band, and Javier Olando & AsheSon. 

2) Mod Dance Party celebrates 18 years with a rockin' set Saturday at Saturn Bar. Starts 11p. 

3) The 150th anniversary of the St. Bernard Massacre is coming up in October. On Thursday, Friends of the Cabildo will be commemorating the bloody event with a lecture at the New Orleans Jazz Museum starting at 6p. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations. Author and historian Chris Dier will share the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.

4) Explore the diaspora with Ghana Day at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center on Saturday. This event is designed to create an awareness of African-Americans' contributions to New Orleans. Diasporic pavilions, will feature each country’s history, art, culture, storytelling, food, décor and more. The site will be the Ashé Power House (1731 Baronne).

5) The Historic New Orleans Collection and five scholars of dance and music will trace the history of dance performance in New Orleans from the mid-18th century to the early 20th century on Saturday. This day of talks at the Williams Research Center will focus on New Orleans’s influential place in American classical dance history, as well as African and Haitian influences on early dance.