New Orleans Mardi Gras!
Parades, Parties & Survival Tips
The girls with the most beads wins!
Fat Tuesday 2013 is Feb. 12
Nothing beats fun party photos. Except being there yourself, of course! Here are photos from past and present Mardi Gras parades and of course, Fat Tuesday.
Those with the best Mardi Gras costumes win!
In 2013, the Mardi Gras parades began Jan. 19, with the two big weekends being Jan. 26-27 and Feb. 8-10. Fat Tuesday is Feb. 12. Keep reading for the complete Mardi Gras parade schedule in New Orleans.
But New Orleans isn't the only place that celebrates Mardi Gras. There's Rio, of course, but would you belive 1.5 million people go to Cologne, Germany? What about huge parades in Croatia? And Portugal? In Switzerland, the party lasts a month. PubClub has compiled this look at the World's Best Places to Party for Carnival.
Locals love the fun of the Mardi Gras parades.
The Mardi Gras parades are
two wild weekends at Fat Tuesday in NOLA.
PubClub.com's Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday Party Tips:
• The first week is generally a younger crowd and they tend to misbehave. The second week is more for veterans who know how to behave. In other words, they act like they've been there before.
• Pack a cooler full of food and drink. Do NOT urinate in public; get caught and you will go to jail until Marid Gras is finished.
•The primary parade route runs down St. Charles and Canal streets. Only a couple of parades go through the French Quarter.
• Bourbon Street on Fat Tuesday is shoulder-to-shoulder crowded with little room to move. And that's just in the daytime. The night is even worse (or better, depending on one's point of view).
• Getting on a Bourbon Street balcony is expensive, if not difficult or impossible, for Fat Tuesday. Expect to pay $250; call bars in advance and ask if they have a bathroom to use and are serving food. Most balonies are reserved by groups and coporations for private parties.
• Do NOT talk with any cops, even to say hello, have a nice day, ask directions, etc. They don't want to hear anything from anyone.
• Future Fat Tuesday dates: 2014 - March 4. 2015 – Feb. 17.
• See where the Marid Gras floats are made by visiting Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. The one-hour tour includes the props, building of the floats and finished floats. New location: On the waterfront near the Crescent City Connection. Open every day except Fat Tuesday. $17 adults. (504) 361-7821. www.mardigrasworld.com
• If Mardi Gras isn't enough, there's the Mardi Gras Fun(k)stravaganza (dates TBD but before all the parades). This third annual event features local musicians playing regional music. The location is the Blue Nile, 532 Frenchman Street, a cool part of town just past the French Market in the cool and funky Faubourg Marigny section of New Orleans.
Mardi Gras 2013 Parade Schedule
The floats are as exotic as the people on them.
Most of the parades run through Uptown.
Uptown (St. Charles Street/Canal) and French Quarter Parades:
• Saturday, Jan. 19: Krewe du Vieux, French Quarter, 6:30 p.m. Krewe Delusion, French Quarter, 7:15.
• Friday, Jan. 25: Krewe of Cork, French Quarter, noon. Oshun - Uptown, 6 p.m.
• Saturday, Jan. 26: Pontchartrain, Uptown, 2 p.m. Sparta, Uptown, 6 p.m. Pygmalion, Uptown, 6:45 p.m.
• Sunday, Jan. 27: Carrollton, Uptown, Noon. King Arthur, Uptown, 1:15 p.m.. Barkus, French Quarter, 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, Feb. 6: Druids, Uptown, 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Feb. 7 Babylon, Uptown, 5:45 p.m. Chaos, Uptown, 6:30 p.m. Muses,Uptown, 6:30 p.m.
• Friday, Feb. Feb. 7: Divine Protectors of Endangered Pleasures or DIVA, French Quarter, 1:30 p.m. Mystic Krewe of Hermes, Uptown, 6 p.m. Le Krewe d'Etat, Uptown, 6 p.m. Krewe of Morpheus, Uptown, 7 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 9: Iris, Uptown, 11 a.m. Tucks, Updown, 12:15 p.m. Endymion, Mid-City, 4:15 p.m.
• Sunday Feb. 10: Okenos, Uptown, 11 a.m. Mid-City, Uptown, 11:45 a.m. Thoth, Uptown, noon. Bacchus, Uptown, 5:15 p.m.
• Luni Gras, Feb. 11: Proteus, Uptown, 5:15 p.m. Orpheus, Uptown, 6 p.m.
• Mardi Gras Day, Feb. 12: Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Uptown, 8 a.m. Rex, Uptown, 10 a.m. Elks Orleans, 11:30 a.m. Crescent City (after Elks). There are also marching bands on Mardi Gras: Jefferson City Buzzards, Uptown, 6:45 a.m. Lyons Carnival Club and Corner Carnival Club, Uptown, 7 a.m. Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club and Mondo Kayo Social & Marching Club, Uptown, 7:45 a.m. Societe de Saint Anne, French Quarter (Marginey/Bywater), 10 a.m. KOE, French Quarter, 10:15 a.m.
Of course, you've got to have lots of beads on Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras looks a lot like Halloween.
The "squad" in the Caesar Parade. Photos: Phenix
VooDoo in New Orleans; that makes sense.
The parades
start in the morning and go into the night.
People not even on the floats go all out in New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
It's not hard to have fun on Fat Tuesday.
He sure seems happy about getting more beads.
The
partying – and the smiles – go on deep into the night.
Mardi Gras is the biggest party event of the year in the Big Easy.
Get a close-up look at the floats year-round at Mardi Gras World.
People are creative during the Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.
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