NEW ORLEANS, April 29 (UPI) -- Shell Oil says it will remain a sponsor of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival until at least 2010.
The announcement came Saturday as the festival opened up for the second of six days filled with good music and good food, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
Shell has now committed to fund the Jazzfest's nonprofit foundation for at least three more years, just 15 months after it signed on to ensure the festival would still take place after Hurricane Katrina in 2006.
"In our darkest hour, it was the Shell Co.," said Quint Davis, producer and director of the festival that brings in about 350,000 tourists each year and has an economic impact of $300 million. "We were the goldfish on the kitchen floor. They put us back in the bowl so we could swim."
The Jazzfest is in its 38th year and has become a major part of the recovery of the city of New Orleans.
