Popular local bands to play for Saints event

Two of the Coast’s popular bands will collaborate to jack up the energy level at the 2017 New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame Experience at the Great Lawn south of Harrah’s Saturday from 4-6:30 p.m.

Crazy Uncle and Blackwater Brass will perform for attendees at the second annual fundraising event produced by the City of Biloxi. About two dozen of the most talented and popular players in Saints history will sign autographs, take photos and visit with local fans. Heading the group of Hall of Famers are superstar linebacker Rickey Jackson, quarterback Bobby Hebert, wide receiver Eric Martin and standout running backs Deuce McAllister, Dalton Hilliard and Mike Strachan. Other popular former players attending are linebacker Vaughan Johnson, defensive end Jim Wilks and Mississippi natives John Fourcade, Jack Holmes, Emmanuel Zanders, Larry Hardy and Vernon Perry.

Ratcheting up this year’s event will be the appearance of current Saints starters led by leading tackler and linebacker Craig Robertson, stalwart offensive tackle Zach Strieff, star cornerback and New Orleans native Delvin Breaux and placekicker Will Lutz.

Tickets to the event are $15 general admission and are available at the MGM Park Box Office and in the Gift Shop at Harrah’s. No tickets will be sold at the gate. Parking will be in the Harrah’s parking garage and on their ground level parking lot west of Oak Street at U.S. 90.

Gates open at 3 p.m. at the south end of both pedestrian bridges from Harrah’s.

 

Have your Saints Kids Experience tickets yet?

Tickets are still available for Saturday morning’s Saints Kids Experience in MGM Park. The event is open to children 6-17 and will feature instruction and physical challenges directed by staff of the New Orleans Saints, who will be assisted by some current Saints players and Saints Hall of Famers.

The event is from 8:30-11 a.m., with gates opening at 8 a.m. Participant tickets are $10 per child, or two for $15, and are available at the MGM Park Box Office. Spectator tickets are $5. Only participants will be allowed on the field. Parents and family will be seated in the stands. Special needs participants will be allowed assistance on the field.

The Saints Kids Experience is part of Saints Weekend in Biloxi, which concludes Saturday afternoon from 4-6:30 p.m. with the Saints Hall of Fame Experience on the Great Lawn south of Harrah’s. Tickets for that event are also available at MGM Park Box Office and the Harrah’s Gift Shop.

 

News and notes

Dramatic views: The city’s Facebook page is buzzing at the moment with dramatic nighttime aerial video of the billfish armada down at Point Cadet Marina. To see the images, shot last night, click here.

The parade: You’ll see a parade of 122 top-of-the-line boats this morning at 11 when anglers in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic head to the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. At 11, the boats, some valued at a million dollars or more, will parade from Point Cadet Marina to the Biloxi Lighthouse and then turn south, headed for the Gulf of Mexico.