Mardi Gras 2009: Wrap Up
  photo credit: Toast to Life |
Mardi Gras 2009 is over. At 12:01 AM this morning local time, the police swept Bourbon St., shutting down the celebrations and bringing on the coming of Ash Wednesday. Another Mardi Gras is in the books.
Some people asked what I thought of this year’s Mardi Gras, unfortunately though, I don’t have a lot to say about it. I was sick the entire week before and most of the weekend before too. My revelry was limited to a bit on Sunday and Monday evening and most of the day Tuesday. I wasn’t able to go to any of my favorite parades, save Krewe Du Vieux early in the season, and it really feels like I missed most of this year and I don’t even have any pictures to share (be thankful for Photodropper).
Which, unfortunately, is a terrible shame. It was a very good Mardi Gras. In my estimation, it was the first Mardi Gras since Katrina that felt like the holiday was “back”. The 2006 one was a very bittersweet one, largely for the locals and the workers rebuilding the city. The 2007 one was still too early after Katrina. 2008 was just too early in the year (early Mardi Gras are always more tame) and this was the first time the city has both healed enough and has had a good date to work with.
On that front, 2010 looks very promising, with a mid-February date and 2011 even more so, with an early March date. I think we’re poised for a good run of Mardi Gras years coming up.
A Few Quick Words
The one thing that I did find disappointing is that I came back in the mid-afternoon from the festivities, I needed a break and I had to record a podcast (the parades outside my office had stopped for the day), and I immediately get questions about a shooting along the parade route.
I can’t blame people for worrying about these kinds of things. New Orleans has a very serious problem with violent crime and, sadly, this time it appears some of that spilled onto the parade route. However, Mardi Gras, over all, is a very safe event. When you consider the sheer number of people who gather together deaths or injuries are very rare.
I’ve attended every Mardi Gras since 2003. I’ve been on Bourbon St and in the French Quarter for seven Fat Tuesdays now. I’ve never once seen as much as a serious fist fight. Some heated words exchanged, a shoving match. The only fights I’ve seen on the street were on other weekends and the only Fat Tuesday conflict I’ve seen was a fight between a group of girls waiting for the ferry, a fight Crystal and I broke up with no incident.
Can Mardi Gras be dangerous? Sure. Any time you get a crowd of people together, add alcohol and throw in some competition, things can get ugly. But Mardi Gras has been remarkably safe in New Orleans, even with the city’s high crime and it pains me that the carry away many will have from this year is the shooting.
In short, if you’re smart about how you go to Mardi Gras, treat it like any other crowd situation and follow common sense safety, you should be ok. What happened is unfortunate, but very rare.
Bottom Line
For me, this is going to be the “sick” Mardi Gras, the one where I was too ill to really do much. However, it was a very good one, especially for those interested in costumes, humor and drinking. The revelry was actually pretty tame on Mardi Gras day and the monday before, but the week before, before we got sick, things were already very busy.
It looks to me like Mardi Gras is finally back and, looking at the future calendar, it’s going to be a good run going forward for a few years. If you’ve been wanting to plan a trip for Mardi Gras. Now would be a good time to start thinking about 2010.
