Mardi Gras Parade Viewing

Mardi Gras Parade Viewing

Where to watch parades is an important decision. Uptown is more of a family zone, which is not to say it is not crowded and frenzied. Most activity, though, is focused around the parades; outside parade hours, the streets revert to relative normalcy. Particularly good places to catch the parades include the vicinity of the Columns Hotel (3811 St. Charles Avenue, between Peniston and General Taylor streets), which charges a fee for access to its bar and bathrooms. The expansive front porch provides a good vantage point for those who don't need to catch any more beads. The corner of Napoleon and St. Charles avenues is a crowded but exciting place to watch, as the floats and bands turn onto St. Charles Avenue. The Garden District, particularly around Third and Fourth streets, is reasonably family-friendly. Between Jackson Avenue and Lee Circle is a more crowded and energetic (sometimes rowdy) place to watch, and a number of bars and stores on this strip can keep you lubricated and fed. On Mardi Gras day, costuming begins very early on St. Charles Avenue, and the street is fairly crowded by 8 AM. If you plan to spend time Uptown, it is worth getting up and out early (try to get there by 7) to share in the excitement of anticipation. The day begins with various walking clubs and makeshift bands strolling by, followed by the Zulu parade, with Rex close on its heels.

A week or so before Mardi Gras, things heat up downtown and along Bourbon Street and throughout the French Quarter. By Mardi Gras weekend the crowds are so thick it is difficult to walk down Bourbon. Drinking, exchanging beads, and exhibitionism are popular activities along Bourbon, where lines form to enter the bars and drink prices go through the roof. The side streets offer some degree of refuge while still sustaining a high party pitch. At some point, most parades roll down Canal Street, which marks one boundary of the French Quarter, and the crowds shift over accordingly to bounce to the marching bands and catch some beads before ducking back into the bars or the street scene. Unlike Uptown, where parades are the focal point, downtown the parades seem merely a blip on the screen of general frenzy.

In deference to the religious pretext for this holiday, Mardi Gras "ends" with the arrival of Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season. At midnight on Tuesday night, downtown streets are cleared, and police officers on foot, in cars, and on horses cruise through the French Quarter blaring from their loudspeakers "Mardi Gras is over. Go home."