Coca-Cola Gives Back to New Orleans During the ESSENCE Music Festival

NEW ORLEANS, Jul 01, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Local youth participating in New Orleans' Wilderness Program have 40,000 reasons to be happier this summer. The Coca-Cola Company, the presenting sponsor of the ESSENCE Music Festival, donated $40,000 to the Friends of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD), to benefit this youth outdoor adventure program. The donation recognizes the 40th anniversary of ESSENCE Magazine, which is being celebrated during this year's Festival.

"Coca-Cola is dedicated to supporting initiatives like the Wilderness Program, which creates opportunities for our youth to engage in fun activities that promote active living, such as swimming, hiking, and canoeing," said Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior vice president of Global Community Connections for The Coca-Cola Company and chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation.

A second donation of $16,000 was donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana, in recognition of the 16th anniversary of the Festival. Second Harvest provides nourishment to the New Orleans community, including those impacted by the Gulf oil spill. The food bank has provided thousands of emergency food boxes to fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For the past 28 years this food bank has been a steadfast source of support for residents, from the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina to the economy's current recession. This is a continuation of the Company's support of the food bank.

"Coca-Cola is committed to ensuring that those organizations, on which residents rely during emergencies, have the resources to serve those in need," said Ms. Jones. "Both donations represent our sincere thanks and gratitude to all of those who do the heavy lifting in New Orleans to create safe and fun activities for our youth and to sustain our communities in times of need."

The Coca-Cola Foundation has been the presenting sponsor of the Festival for the past 15 years and has donated more than $300,000 to local New Orleans organizations during the three-day Festival.

About The Coca-Cola Foundation

Since its inception, The Coca-Cola Foundation has contributed more than $340 million to help build sustainable communities worldwide through initiatives focused on water stewardship active healthy living, community recycling, education, arts and culture and civic affairs. For more information about The Coca-Cola Foundation, please go to www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/foundation_coke.html.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 50.03, -0.09, -0.18%) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply and Georgia Coffee. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of 1.6 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website a www.thecoca-colacompany.com.

SOURCE: The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company Wanda Yancey Rodwell, 404-676-1068

Copyright Business Wire 2010

OMG - Essence Fest helps sustain New Orleans amid spill

Essence Fest helps sustain New Orleans amid spill

By CHEVEL JOHNSON (AP) – 55 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS — For all the talk of the BP oil spill scaring tourists away from Louisiana and the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida, one city in the region has stayed full of visitors since the crisis began.

New Orleans has seen steady convention traffic and a high volume of visitors virtually throughout the 2 1/2-month spill, normally a slower time of year, and you can hardly find a hotel room for this weekend's Essence Music Festival.

Some 35,000 rooms are booked for the weekend because of the music festival, spill relief workers and the National Education Association's 15,000-delegate conference.

Since the spill began, hotel occupancy in the New Orleans area has hovered around 70 percent, comparable to the same period last year, said Mavis Early, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Hotel Lodging Association.

Still, tourism officials say they have to overcome the perception that the Crescent City has been fouled by the massive oil spill.

"Our challenge is the future because we're getting more calls from people asking about the spill and its effect on New Orleans. We're dealing with perception," she said.

Though New Orleans has no beaches, the city shares the perception that oil is everywhere. Mayor Mitch Landrieu said it's critical to erase that notion as soon as possible.

"We need a lot of help with damage control," said Landrieu, who also served as the state's lieutenant governor and chief tourism advocate.

For the holiday weekend, though, most visitors' minds are on the music. Essence Festival performers include Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Gladys Knight and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Raphael Saadiq, whose hits include "Never Give You Up" and "Anniversary," said he's pleased that the festival invited him to return.

"I have family in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana, in Monroe and Shreveport. So I love coming down here for the food and the people. The people who come for this all come to celebrate music," Saadiq said.

Chrisette Michele, who brings her neo soul-rock-jazz fusion sounds Friday to one of the festival's Superlounges, said the atmosphere at the Essence festival is electric and one of the venues she always looks forward to.

"The reception I received last year, meant so much to me," said the singer, whose song, "Be OK" won a Grammy last year. "I was performing in the lounge and I told my mom I don't think anybody's going to show because Mary J. Blige was performing at the same time and I was literally scared. But when I saw that the space was full, that people couldn't even get in, I was so overjoyed."

In a normal year, Essence alone would more than triple the number of tourists in the city. In 2009, a record-breaking 428,000 people participated in the three-day event that mixes nightly ticketed concerts in the Louisiana Superdome with free daily seminars in the convention center. Its economic impact is at least $200 million, Essence has said.

The festival is helping to boost New Orleans businesses even as the perception that oil has soiled beaches and fishing areas from Louisiana to Florida threatens to harm the region's tourism at the height of the summer season.

"July 4th is extremely weak in traditional urban environments all over the United States because people usually go visit relatives in the country or go to the beach," said Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. "But when you have Essence in the mix, it has an absolutely incredible impact on the city's summer economy."

Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc., said the festival is thrilled to return to "help bolster the economy of this city and this region."

Landrieu said the city has asked BP for $75 million for a national tourism campaign. That's on top of the $15 million each already provided to the state, Mississippi and Alabama and $25 million for Florida.

Landrieu said TV reports on the spill give viewers the sense the city is under siege by tar balls and oil when in fact the impact is along the state's coastline many miles away. Concerns over seafood safety also are hurting, even though 70 percent of Gulf waters are open to fishermen and there have been no reports of oil-related illnesses stemming from seafood, the mayor said.

Perry said visitors shouldn't worry about finding restaurant menus depleted by the oil spill. "There is an abundance of fresh, safe seafood," he said. "Our fish supply is good. Our crab and shrimp supply is strong."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.