Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide

2009 Review
Posted: March 07, 2009

So what kind of Mardi Gras was it? Once one dismisses the tragic shootings on Fat Tuesday—admittedly, not an easy thing to ignore—the 2009 Carnival season was remarkable. This was very much a pre-Katrina-like Mardi Gras more than the 2006, 2007 and 2008 editions. Crowds were the largest since 2005 but were calm, continuing a post-K trend. As hard as the national media tried to predict that the U.S. recession would ruin our city’s premiere celebration, there was scant evidence of it on the streets of New Orleans. As one captain said, “Look, we survived Katrina. Do you think we’re going to fold our tents because of a downturn in the economy? No way. Nothing will take away our Mardi Gras! Nothing.” Naysayers point to the loss of three parades this year—Aquila, Gladiators and Shangri-La—all of which say they will try to return in 2010. Truth is that these small parades had low membership even before the storm and, while we are sorry for their absence, this is not the first time parades have ceased operations. In the 1970s Mardi Gras lost 18 parades but gained 18 new ones. The 1980s saw the demise of 18 parades and the birth of 27 others. Such is the ebb and flow of parading krewes.

Unlike last year when rain ruined many parades, the weather was mostly good on all ten parade days, with only one postponement because of rain that never materialized. I can’t remember a year when more parades rolled on time, with so few breakdowns. The one exception, and it was a big one, was Chaos, whose breakdown on Napoleon and Magazine delayed the mammoth Muses parade by nearly an hour. Zulu, and its float builder Barry Kern, deserve special praise for moving so well on Fat Tuesday. When Zulu is late, the entire day is thrown off schedule. Not this time. On their 100th anniversary, Zulu shined.

Satire continues to find creative vehicles in the parades of Chaos, D’Etat and Muses. Favorite targets included the Jefferson family, Ray Nagin, David Vitter, Bobby Jindal, Eddie Price and Archbishop Hughes.

Statistically speaking, 2009 was a good year. Hotel occupancy reached 97%; arrests (almost all for non-violent crimes) were up 25%—a good sign of good police work. Tourism officials claim one million people lined the streets. The French Quarter was so crowded that Sidney Torres and his SDT team had to bring in extra garbage removal equipment to handle all the extra trash left by revelers.

One not-so-pleasant stat: 31,245 parking tickets were issued. I wonder how many of these citations were for safety-related violations and how many were of the revenue-generating “gotcha” variety. How many drivers openly defied the law and how many, especially tourists, were ignorant of it? I have personally witnessed meter maids waiting on side streets until dozens of cars are parked on the neutral grounds and then, when their drivers are off with their families to enjoy the parades, they ticket ($75) every one of them. What a way to ruin the day of a citizen or of a money- spending visitor. Think they’ll be eager to return to the Crescent City or recommend a visit to their friends? There is a better way. Why not post NO PARKING signs on sticks every ten feet on the neutral ground? But that wouldn’t bring in any cash, would it?

The new westbank parade route was well received, as was the addition of the Choctaw and Adonis parades to the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Family Gras continues to thrive in Jefferson Parish. Officials there seem to have settled on a permanent Metairie parade route that pleases most people and allows for consistent parade planning.

Some hotels on Canal Street were less than thrilled about the removal of the Canal Street loop since the parades of Druids, Babylon, Chaos, Muses, Hermes, D’Etat and Morpheus no longer pass in front of their properties. A much more popular route change was the new starting point at Jefferson Avenue and Magazine Street for Druids, Muses, D’Etat, Morpheus, Mid-City and Okeanos. Krewe members, merchants and neighborhood parade-goers seemed thrilled by the addition of these parades.

MEDIA
On a personal note, I was particularly proud to again be associated with WDSU Channel 6, which expanded its coverage this year with a huge commitment of time, personnel and resources. My interviews with 47 krewe officials (40 at their dens) were shown on air and on the web. GPS units in all uptown parades provided parade progress reports and streaming video of those parades was shown on the web. Maps and throws were also featured on air and clips of almost every parade were shown on nightly, morning and noon newscasts. On Fat Tuesday WDSU was on the air from 8AM-5PM. The station also provided five hours of live coverage of the Bacchus parade.

Fat Tuesday 2010 is February 16. Let the planning begin.