Mirliton Fest, the Bywater's annual neighborhood festival, is celebrating its 26th year this Saturday, November 7. Running from 11a to 7p at Markey Park, this free family-friendly fest will host live music from Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers, the Washboard Chaz Trio, One Love Brass Band, Five Card Stud, Doombalaya, and Hot Tooth. An Artists' Village will be held at the Old Iron Works on Piety, less than a block away, in conjunction with the festival. Food vendors this year include Bywater restaurants Bacchanal and Elizabeth's.

Markey Park is located at the corner of Piety & Royal streets in the Upper 9th Ward. The festival was started in 1989 by a group of neighborhood boosters who thought that their section of town needed its own event and has run annually ever since. For many years, the festival was produced in tandem with the Bywater Home Tour but is now put on by the Bywater Neighborhood Association.