New Orleans welcomes French Quarter fest

New Orleans -- The French Quarter Festival's food, music and dancing lured hundreds of thousands of people into New Orleans this weekend, festival patrons said.

Patron Adele King said the live music, along with the sights and smells of countless culinary offerings, were enough to draw anyone to the annual New Orleans festival, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Sunday.

"What's to complain about? Nothing," the Paris resident said Saturday.

More than 400,000 people were expected to attend the 25th annual French Quarter Festival, which started last Friday and ends Sunday night.

New Orleans resident Gerry Wright said the festival represented the best the French Quarter and the rest of New Orleans have to offer.

"Since I've been here today, I've run into about six people I know," he told The Times-Picayune.

"I don't come down here (to the Quarter) much; neither do my friends. But this is real New Orleans here."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.