What do you think about vacationing in New Orleans for Thanksgiving?

Will it be crazy busy downtown for Black Friday, or is most of the retail shopping in the suburbs? I don’t want to go if it will be annoyingly crowded that weekend. Busy is ok, I just don’t want to go if the crowds will be extreme. I assume all the restaurants will be open. I have no interest in Christmas shopping.

I’ll check to see if all the tourist sights I am interested in will be open of course, which brings me to the second part of my question, what do you recommend while there?