New Orleans’ Carnival season marks Fat Tuesday with celebrities and pretend monarchs
Mardi Gras celebrations are in full swing in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Festivities marking Mardi Gras, the climactic day of New Orleans’ Carnival season, hit full swing early Tuesday, with costumed revelers gathering on the narrow streets of the French Quarter and families and tourists lining major thoroughfares to watch parades.
The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club handed out its signature gift — hand-decorated coconuts — to adults and children as it moved down St. Charles Avenue. The procession of Rex, King of Carnival rolled along another route later in the morning but would ultimately follow Zulu through the city’s streets.
In the French Quarter, morning crowds were not as thick as in past years, but bars and restaurants still were doing a brisk business on Bourbon Street.
Latin music blared from a speaker set up by revelers clad in vividly colored, feathered costumes in front of St. Louis Cathedral at nearby Jackson Square.
Bethany and Alex Kraft — she in a white dress and crescent moon, he in Fred Flintstone garb — had driven over from their home in Mobile, Alabama. They were on Canal Street in the city’s business district, awaiting Zulu’s arrival.
“It’s fun to people-watch and just kind of join in the revelry,” Bethany said. “I was raised Catholic, so tomorrow’s for repenting but today is for partying.”
Alex likes the tradition of costuming, saying they were comfortable in Tuesday’s chilly morning temperatures in the upper 40s.
“Last year it was like 80 degrees outside and I was a shark in a tuxedo,” he said. ”It was very hot.”
Monday night featured the parade of the Krewe of Orpheus, co-founded by home-grown musician and actor Harry Connick Jr. In addition to elaborate floats and marching bands, participants included Connick himself, actor Neil Patrick Harris and Harris’ husband, David Burtka.
New Orleans has the nation’s largest and best known Carnival celebration. It’s replete with cherished traditions beloved by locals. But it’s also a vital boost to the city’s tourist-driven economy — always evident in the French Quarter.
“No strangers down here,” visitor Renitta Haynes of Chattanooga, Tennessee, said as she watched costumed revelers on Bourbon Street over the weekend. “Everybody is very friendly and approachable. I love that.”
She and her friend Tiffany Collins wore giant purple, green and gold bead necklaces as they sipped drinks.
The annual pre-Lenten festivities aren’t limited to New Orleans. Similar celebrations are held in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast. Mobile, Alabama, where six parades were scheduled Tuesday, lays claim to the nation’s oldest Mardi Gras celebration. And other lavish Carnival celebrations in Brazil and Europe are world renowned.
Monday’s activities in New Orleans also included an afternoon “Lundi Gras,” or Fat Monday celebration on the Mississippi Riverfront, including live music. Part of the event was the annual ceremonial meeting of the man tapped to be this year’s King of Carnival — chosen by the Rex Organization, a predominantly white group with roots in the 19th century — and the man elected king Zulu, founded by Black laborers in the early 1900s. The meeting is a custom that began in 1999 in what was seen as a symbol of slowly eroding social and racial barriers.
The Krewe of Orpheus Smokey Mary train makes its way up Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
Orpheus Monarch Neil Patrick Harris reacts upon seeing the crowds lined up near the corner of St. Charles and Napoleon avenues during the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
A float in the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Krewe of Proteus parades in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
A trumpeter plays during the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Krewe of Orpheus Smokey Mary train makes its way up Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Krewe of Orpheus parades in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Krewe of Proteus parades in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
Singer Harry Connick Jr. rides on a float at the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Alcorn State University Band performs at the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Krewe of Orpheus Smokey Mary train makes its way up Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
The Krewe of Proteus parades in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
A member of the traditional Mardi Gras group The Tramps holds a traditional coconut throw during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
A member of the traditional Mardi Gras group The Tramps marches during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Zulu King Melvin Labat parades down Jackson Ave during the traditional Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
A member of the traditional Mardi Gras group The Tramps marches during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Drum majors from the Mississippi Valley State University marching band parade down Jackson Ave during the traditional Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Women dance to the electric slide during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
A Zulu hands the traditional coconut throws during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
A member of the traditional Mardi Gras group The Tramps marches during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Revelers dance and take selfies in Jackson Square in New Orleans during Mardi Gras celebrations, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People kiss in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
The Mississippi Valley State marching band marches during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People dance in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People dance in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Mississippi Valley State dancers perform during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Carmen Sandiego is spotted as people walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People dance in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
The Krewe du Belge plays during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
A woman resembles the severed head of Marie Antoinette as she walks in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Gold paint paves the street and shoes for costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
People walk in costumes during the Society of Saint Anne parade through Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, center, rides with the mounted patrol during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.