Arthur Hardy is nationally recognized as a premiere authority on Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The fifth generation New Orleanian acts as an on-air Mardi Gras expert for WDSU television, WWL radio and TheNew-OrleansChannelcom.
Since 1977, his award-winning Mardi Gras Guide magazine has sold more than two million copies. Arthur Hardy’s hard cover, coffee table book, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, An Illustrated History, is now in its third edition (2007).

As a consultant to visiting media, Hardy has worked with print and electronic journalists from Europe, Japan, Canada, China, National Geographic, CNN, Travel/Holiday, Radio Free Europe, Frommer's Guide to the Southeast, USA Today, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, Fodor's Guide to New Orleans, CBS Morning News and National Public Radio. He has appeared on the NBC Today Show three times. Hardy has done consulting work with motion picture producers and corporations involved in Mardi Gras promotions.

Arthur Hardy serves as a guest speaker for conventions and has also done presentations at universities and libraries. His Mardi Gras memorabilia collection has been the subject of numerous feature articles in print and on television and has been exhibited at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans and at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge.

Hardy is a member of the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory Committee, and was the driving force behind the University of New Orleans’ annual Mardi Gras Symposium which began in 1990. Hardy also played a key role in the conception and direction of the Jefferson Parish Mardi Gras Museum.