Current:Home > Contact-usNew Orleans’ Carnival season marks Fat Tuesday with celebrities and pretend monarchs-LoTradeCoin
New Orleans’ Carnival season marks Fat Tuesday with celebrities and pretend monarchs
View Date:2024-12-24 08:04:00
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans’ Carnival season is nearing its “Fat Tuesday” climax, with the last lavish Mardi Gras parades set to roll through historic neighborhoods while narrow streets of the old French Quarter host a raucous, continuous street party of revelers overflowing its bars and restaurants.
Two of the city’s favorite parades — the processions of Rex, King of Carnival and the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club — were set to roll Tuesday morning on major thoroughfares. 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, scheduled 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 cherished 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 of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, 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.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- The White Stripes drop lawsuit against Donald Trump over 'Seven Nation Army' use
- Jessica Simpson Shares Dad Joe’s Bone Cancer Diagnosis
- This Nigerian city has a high birth rate of twins — and no one is sure why
- Paying for mental health care leaves families in debt and isolated
- American Idol’s Triston Harper, 16, Expecting a Baby With Wife Paris Reed
- 24 Mother’s Day Gifts From Amazon That Look Way More Expensive Than They Actually Are
- IRS says $1.5 billion in tax refunds remain unclaimed. Here's what to know.
- Today’s Climate: August 4, 2010
- Congress heard more testimony about UFOs: Here are the biggest revelations
- Below Deck Alum Kate Chastain Addresses Speculation About the Father of Her Baby
Ranking
- NASCAR Championship race live updates, how to watch: Cup title on the line at Phoenix
- Endangered baby pygmy hippo finds new home at Pittsburgh Zoo
- Isle of Paradise 51% Off Deal: Achieve and Maintain an Even Tan All Year Long With This Gradual Lotion
- Visitors at Grand Teton National Park accused of harassing baby bison
- Voters in California city reject measure allowing noncitizens to vote in local races
- Is it safe to work and commute outside? What experts advise as wildfire smoke stifles East Coast.
- There's a spike in respiratory illness among children — and it's not just COVID
- Funeral company owner allegedly shot, killed pallbearer during burial of 10-year-old murder victim
Recommendation
-
NFL coaches diversity report 2024: Gains at head coach, setbacks at offensive coordinator
-
Coming out about my bipolar disorder has led to a new deep sense of community
-
House Oversight chair cancels resolution to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress
-
Breakthrough Solar Plant Stores Energy for Days
-
Martin Scorsese on the saints, faith in filmmaking and what his next movie might be
-
GM to Be First in U.S. to Air Condition Autos with Climate Friendly Coolant
-
Black Death survivors gave their descendants a genetic advantage — but with a cost
-
Suburbs delivered recent wins for Georgia Democrats. This year, they're up for grabs