Thousands
flood New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras 2020
Mardi
Gras is the end of nearly two months of Carnival
celebration around the Crescent City
Gray
skies did nothing to deter thousands of people
crowding the streets in the French Quarter, the
Marigny and Uptown on Tuesday 25th february for
the last parades of the 2020 Carnival season.
The
Krewe of Rex and Zulu rolled through New
Orleans Mardi Gras morning along different
routes than usual, moved away from the Hard
Rock Hotel collapse site on the edge of the French
Quarter. It's one of the last reminders of a
Carnival season that for all the thrown
beads and marching bands was marred by tragedy.
Two
people were killed in separate accidents along
parade routes in the week leading up to Mardi
Gras. On Wednesday, Geraldine Carmouche was pulled
under the wheels of a Krewe of Nyx float on
Magazine Street. Four days later, Joseph Sampson
was killed in a similar way near Canal and Galvez
streets by an Endymion float.
The
two deaths, both involving tandem floats, prompted
last-minute changes to the rest of the season's
parades, announced by Mayor LaToya Cantrell
shortly after Sampson's death.
Tandem
floats – multiple wagons pulled by a single
tractor – were banned for the remainder of the
2020 Carnival season, leaving the remaining
parades, including superkrewe Orpheus, to scramble
for more tractors to comply with the city's decree.
But
the deaths and multiple hospitalizations along
parade routes Sunday weren't enough to dampen the
spirits of New Orleneans and out-of-towners
celebrating the end of nearly two months of
Carnival. Costumes paid homage to everything from
the Hard Rock collapse to French Quarter rats to
the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
