Editor’s note: In theory, Jazz Fest is all about the music. However, in its 45-year run, the festival has arguably become just as much about its respective people-watching opportunities as its jams. With the seven-day span, over a mile of buzzing crowds and a tremendous volume of eccentric characters in tow, it’s impossible to catch every intriguing tattoo, quirky outfit, or muddy set of feet. To maximize your fest-oriented people-watching, in a three-part mini-series NolaVie contributor Robert Warren set out to catch the best “overseen” snapshots at Jazz Fest.
He asked Jazz Festers…
“Tell me about your position on going barefoot versus wearing boots.”:
Who: Andre Tostyov
“I think everybody should be going barefoot. There’s one country I travelled to, New Zealand. Your shoes are not necessary to wear there. You can go literally everywhere without shoes and I started digging it. Now every place I go I try to not wear shoes. I don’t trash, all of my cigarette butts are in my pocket, so it’s safe. I wish everybody would do the same thing, don’t trash on the streets and we can go barefoot, no nothing.”
Who: Erin Cortes
“Barefoot is way better than boots because you don’t get stuck in the mud. And you can always wash your feet instead of losing your boots because they might get ruined. So instead of having that suction mud thing going on, you’re just free, and you can clean them later.”
Who: Denise
“Boots are definitely better than barefoot because a) you don’t have to walk barefoot in the port-o-potties which is not pretty, and b) look at the boots. You want all of that on your feet? No. It takes forever to get it off. Boots are definitely better”
Who: Liz
“Boots are better because you can go where the crowds are not. The people won’t cross the moat, you can go right in the middle and get a good spot. You can go where nobody else is.”
Who: Megan
“Boots are better because you don’t get mud in between your toes and you don’t have to worry about losing flip flops or anything, they stay with you. They definitely stay on. Yesterday was a lot worse. I ride horses so these are horse boots but at the end you just hose them off and you’re ready to go.”
NOLAbeings Multimedia artist Claire Bangser created NOLAbeings as a portrait-based story project that marries... 
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