New Orleans bids another joyous 'Fat Tuesday' farewell to Carnival season

New Orleans bids another joyous ‘Fat Tuesday’ farewell to Carnival season

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New Orleans’ Carnival season is nearing its “Fat Tuesday” climax, with the last lavish Mardi Gras parades rolling through historic neighborhoods. (Feb. 13)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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Revelers dance and take selfies in Jackson Square in New Orleans during Mardi Gras celebrations, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)

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Mississippi Valley State dancers perform during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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A Zulu hands the traditional coconut throws during the Krewe of Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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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. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

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The Krewe of Proteus parades in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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The Krewe of Orpheus Smokey Mary train makes its way up Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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The Krewe of Proteus parades in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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A trumpeter plays during the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans for Lundi Gras, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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People yell for beads from a home decorated for Mardi Gras as Krewe of Okeanos parades on the Uptown route in New Orleans, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, during carnival celebrations ahead of Mardi Gras. (Sophia Germer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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Revelers reach for trinkets as Endymion rolls in New Orleans, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, to the theme, “Silents are Golden.” Sydney Raymond reigned as queen and Andrew Morris Bahary as king and over 3,200 riders on 37 floats. The parade was dedicated to Endymion founder and captain, the late Ed Muniz, who helmed the krewe for 57 years, the longest-serving captain in Mardi Gras history. (Scott Threlkeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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The Krewe of NOMTOC rolls through Algiers in New Orleans, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

By KEVIN McGILL

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans bade a typically joyous goodbye to Carnival season Tuesday with Mardi Gras parades, street parties and what amounted to a massive outdoor costume festival around the bars and restaurants in the French Quarter.

Revelers in capes, wigs, spandex and feathers danced in front of St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square while Latin music blared. Not far away, tourists and locals roamed Bourbon and Royal streets with costumes that varied from the scanty and suggestive to the fanciful.

There were pirates, mimes and a family of giant bananas. A group of black-robed, white-wigged judges downed drinks outside a bar wile, nearby, a fluorescent green gorilla pushed a shopping cart through an intersection and a half-dozen blonde-wigged, fur-coat-wearing “Kens” from the “Barbie” movie posed for pictures with passersby.

Initially light crowds grew markedly as the overcast, cold morning gave way to sunshine and milder temperatures.

Outside the narrow streets of the quarter, two tradition-rich parades rolled on a route that took them through the city’s Uptown neighborhood and onto Canal Street in the business district. First came the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, with marchers and riders in African-inspired garb handing out the century-old club’s signature gift — hand-decorated coconuts. Later, Rex, King of Carnival rolled down St. Charles, stopping for a ceremonial toast at a historic downtown building with Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

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Mardi Gras — or Fat Tuesday — is a secular holiday but it’s tied to Christian and Roman Catholic traditions. It always falls the day before Ash Wednesday and is seen as a final day of feasting and revelry before the solemnity of Lent.

“I was raised Catholic, so tomorrow’s for repenting but today is for partying,” Bethany Kraft, a regular visitor from Mobile, Alabama, said as she waited for parades with her husband Alex. She wore a white dress and a headpiece shaped like a crescent moon; he, a Fred Flintstone costume.

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 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.