Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide

MARDI GRAS 2010 REVIEW
Posted: February 21, 2010

By Arthur Hardy
February 21, 2010

So what kind of Mardi Gras was it? Super! Signs of the recession, and the still lingering effects of Katrina were barely evident. Early on the Carnival community wisely embraced the Saints rather than try to compete against them. The payoff was that the positive impact of the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl victory permeated every aspect of the Carnival season, from the plethora of fleur de lis throws to the themes of Fat Tuesday costumes. How many times did we hear that BLACK AND GOLD replaced PURPLE, GREEN AND GOLD; that WHO DAT replaced THROW ME SOMETHING MISTER? And was there even one band that did not play “When The Saints Go Marching In” and the “Crunk” song? Virtually every parade featured at least some tribute to the home team, including the normally super-traditional REX pageant. Saints officials, coaches, players (past and present), and their wives, rode in several parades, most notably TOM BENSON in Endymion, DREW BREES in Bacchus and SEAN PAYTON in ORPHEUS. The feel good nature of the crowd was evident throughout the parade season.

Weather was a major factor in crowd size, or the lack thereof. The greatest loss of the season was the rained-out Chaos parade, whose biting satire would have delighted the masses, but whose floats will have to be redone since this year’s spoofery will not be relevant in 2011. Another great parade, the postponed Muses procession, rolled very late on a bitter cold Friday night with some of its units, and much of its audience, missing. Twice in the past three years this has happened to the women who deserve better. The same fate befell Babylon, which rescheduled for Sunday morning.

Hotel occupancy 2010 was the highest in years and the NOPD reports that arrests were down by nearly one-third. Notable national celebrities included Mary Matalin in Muses, Stephen Segal in Argus.

Mardi Gras in Metairie suffered from poor crowds on some nights and from smaller parades. Rhea did not parade, citing a conflict with the Super Bowl, which other clubs worked around. There is the hope that Family Gras will return next year. The appearance of Rachel Ray in Argus was a big plus, as was Jamie Lynn Spears in Caesar.

For the second time in three years, the Krewe of Gladiators failed to parade. The Krewe of Brid in Lakeview planned a comeback, but got rained out.

Much has been made over the “Saints Victory Parade” and how it compared to traditional Mardi Gras parades. It must be noted that since 1857 New Orleans has witnessed nearly 3,000 Mardi Gras parades. This was not a Mardi Gras parade; it was an event—one whose sole purpose was to salute our beloved NFL team on its victory in the Big Game. The parade route, which was different than a normal parade route, was also nearly half as short, so comparing crowd depth is meaningless. What is certain is that the crowd estimate of 800,000 was exaggerated, as are almost all estimates of crowd size on Fat Tuesday. Do the math. The entire population of Orleans Parish is less than 400,000. If every soul attended, where did the other 400,000 comes from? Assuming four people per car, where did we park 200,000 cars? Regardless, the success of this parade should be measured by the joy it spread, not by counting heads. And despite logistical problems, the Saints Victory Parade was a monumental success, proving once again that New Orleans knows how to celebrate safely and with style.

Newsworthy events included the “passing of the whistle” at the Rex ball where a new captain was appointed, and the controversial on-stage presentation of an $800,000 check to Zulu by outgoing Mayor Ray Nagin at the Lundi Gras celebration at Spanish Plaza. No one faults Zulu for accepting it, but questions abound, the most fundamental of which is this—should government underwrite the activities of any Carnival club? And if so, were all 30 Orleans Parish parading krewes invited to apply for the grant? Could or should the $800,000 have been split ($26,670 per club)?
The meter maids were at it again on the Napoleon Avenue neutral grounds, as they waited for hundreds of cars to park, and then ticketed every one of them. (31,245 tickets were issued citywide during the parade season in 2009). This is not a safety issue; it is a revenue-grabbing gambit. Why not post NO PARKING signs? We know why. So the city continues to drive away locals and visitors who enjoy our parades, spend their money and then leave pissed off. Perhaps a new administration will bring common sense to this issue. We also hope that the new mayor will figure out a creative way to reopen the Municipal Auditorium and allow Carnival krewes to stage balls there.

With Fat Tuesday next year set for March 8 (none later until 2038), we have more than one year to get ready. One change already in place has Endymion moving its Extravaganza to the Morial Convention Center, since improvement will be underway in the Superdome in preparation for the 2013 Super Bowl. Speaking of which, WHAT ABOUT THE PRO BOWL? The Super Bowl in New Orleans in 2013 is scheduled on “Carrollton” Sunday—February 7. It is likely that the first weekend’s parades will be pushed back a week, to Feb 1. This is what happened in 2002 when the NFL championship game in New Orleans was moved to accommodate a change in dates caused by the event of 9/11, which affected the entire NFL schedule. But, WHAT ABOUT THE 2013 PRO BOWL? This year’s event was staged in the Super Bowl host city of Miami. Where will the 2013 Pro Bowl be played? It's going back to Hawaii in 2011 and 2012. It wasn't part of the bidding process for the 2013 Super Bowl. So what happens if the NFL wants the game in New Orleans? Would parades be pushed back two weeks? Say it isn’t so!

Happy Lent.