Hundreds of thousands of revelers celebrate Mardi Gras in New ...

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Hundreds of thousands of revelers celebrated Mardi Gras in and around New Orleans on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 13), many with cold drinks, others in hot costumes and nearly all smiling and communing under pleasantly cool and rain-free skies.

From Covington to Metairie, Central City to the French Quarter, and New Orleans East to the West Bank, the celebration raged from the predawn hours until the traditional New Orleans police sweep of Bourbon Street at midnight, when the debauchery and excess of Fat Tuesday gives way to the recovery and penance of Ash Wednesday.

And yes, while everywhere else it was “just Tuesday,” here it was a Mardi Gras to remember.

The North Side Skull and Bones Gang got things started before the sun rose, with its traditional 5 a.m. drum procession through Treme to wake up the residents and chase away the evil spirits.

Mardi Gras Black Masking Indians took to the streets throughout the morning -- many marching through the streets of Central City, Treme and the Seventh Ward -- showing off their prettiest new suits adorned with vibrant colored feathers and intricately beaded chest plates and head pieces.

Soon after, the massive krewes of Zulu and Rex paraded through New Orleans, handing out iconic painted coconuts and tossing signature beads and throws to crowds lining streets from Central City to Uptown, the Central Business District to Downtown and Treme. Both King Zulu and later Rex, King of Carnival, exchanged toasts with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell as their royal processions passed Gallier Hall.

Parades also rolled in suburban Covington on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Metairie on the South Shore and other traditional celebrations took place in the Cajun country to the southwest.

In Metairie, disaster nearly struck when a rider fell off the second level of a float onto Veterans Boulevard during the Krewe of Argus parade. Witnesses said the rider wanted to get back on the float and continue, but emergency responders insisted he get checked out for possible injuries instead.

LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey was so touched by the tribute costume donned by Fox 8′s Rob Krieger, she reached out to salute the effort.

At noon, competitors climbed the catwalk stage erected at St. Ann and Dauphine streets in the French Quarter for the annual Bourbon Street Awards, revealing some of the most elaborate, intricate and enormous costumes of the day, with craftmanship and design rivaling anything seen on stage in Las Vegas, Broadway or a Beyonce show.

Nearby in the Faubourg Marigny, a crowd of mostly local New Orleanians mixed and mingled, some walking in the morning’s Societé de Saint Anne procession, others gathering for cocktails, laughs and costume photos along Frenchmen Street and the surrounding neighborhood.

As afternoon turned into night, the party coalesced into the French Quarter, with an enormous crowd packing in elbow-to-elbow along the city’s famed Bourbon Street. Most locals not working in the service and hospitality industries politely excused themselves from these sloppy festivities and gravitated toward the Frenchmen Street nightclubs in the Marigny.

But tourists from around the country and even the world joined in the late-night bacchanal along Bourbon Street, under the watchful eyes of Louisiana State Police troopers and uniformed, undercover and mounted New Orleans police.

New NOPD Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick was set to join Cantrell for the traditional midnight sweep of Bourbon Street, signifying the close of Mardi Gras.

In case you’re already wondering, the next Mardi Gras is only 386 days away, falling on March 4, 2025.

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