You might see a costume or two on any given day in New Orleans but on Mardi Gras day, the streets of New Orleans are filled with colorful expressions of celebration. You name it: men dressed as women, women dressed as men, and everything in between. It’s a nice complement to the parades which stroll down a traditional route from uptown to downtown to mark the beginning of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday.
It is the ultimate people watching experience. You can walk from uptown New Orleans and the Garden District to downtown and the French Quarter to enjoy the sites.
If you’ve never made it to New Orleans for Fat Tuesday, don’t miss it. If you can’t take off from work, the weekend prior to Mardi Gras day is full of great parades – enormous pagents like Endymion on Saturday and Bacchus on Sunday night cap off a full lineup of daytime parades. Each have celebrity monarchs. No surprise that the New Orleans Saints were in the lead this year. Tom Benson was king of Endymion; Drew Brees was Bacchus and Coach Sean Payton led the Krewe of Orpheus on Monday night.
Mardi Gras is what you make it. It is a family event for those who bring the kids and the barbecue pit. It is a more mature escapade for those who prefer Bourbon Street. One thing is certain: it is a cultural display like nowhere else in the world.
Mardi Gras next year is March 8. Make your reservations now!
