NEW ORLEANS — Jazz Fest celebrates its golden anniversary this year, and only one vendor has actually been with the festival since the start.
"You saw her smiling and dancing, that makes me happy," said Robert Schaffer, who's also known as Dr. Bob.
A New Orleans artist, Dr. Bob is known for his "Be Nice or Leave" signage that has been at Jazz Fest for 25 years, long enough to carve out the totem pole that stands at the Fairgrounds and welcomes thousands of visitors each year.
"After 20-something years, you make your own group of relatives," he said.
That's a good run, but it is nothing compared to Vaucresson's.
"Step right up and love it, make your mouth feel happy your tummy say yummy," sang Vance Vaucresson at the festival Friday.
Call him an 'OV,' for original vendor. Vaucresson Sausage Company has been selling their creole-style links for as long as the festival has been around.
"I'm 50-years-old, so my mom had me at the first festival because my dad had to stay at the restaurant my mom had me in a bassinet," said Vaucresson.
That was back when the festival was at Congo Square, before moving with the festival to the fairgrounds.
"I tell you those first years, there's a flagpole out here and literally all the food booths were in a circle around the flagpole," he said.
Vaucresson said it wasn't until critics from New York and the rest of the country figured out how much local food was part of Jazz Fest that the event really started attracting worldwide visitors.
"It's about a place where all the different people of New Orleans get along and they're here for the same reason and they come here for seven days and they say, 'you know what? This is why I truly love New Orleans,'" he said.
Now, the festival has outlasted the Vaucresson Restaurant that once stood in the French Quarter. It helps to keep alive the family business that started simply as butchers back in 1899.