Just to give you all the background… a bunch of my friends and I are planning to go down to New Orleans for our spring break this year. It just happens to turn out that Fat Tuesday(Feb 27th) is just about the date that we will be arriving. My question to all of you is this. Does Mardi Gras end right after Fat Tuesday, or do the festivities continue on after the big day? I have never been before and all my searching on the net hasn’t been that helpful. I just want to know if we’re gonna be missing out on all the good stuff, or if we might arrive to still catch a little bit of the good time. Thanks for the help.
As a former resident of the New Orleans metro area, I can tell you that the celebrating is supposed to end on Ash Wednesday. Even the downtown bars close so they can clean up. Mardi Gras season starts Jan 6th, so anytime between then and Fat Tuesday, there is sure to be some festivities somewhere in the metro area. If you are in town before the 27th, see if there is going to be a parade down Veterans’ Memorial Blvd. in Metairie.
Hey I’m going to Mardi Gras too!
I can tell you confidently that at midnight on Fat Tuesday the police basically do a sweep of the entire French Quarter and order everyone indoors. At 12:01 AM the day after Mardi Gras it is officially Ash Wednesday, which is such a holy day down there that it’s a school holiday. The French Quarter looks like a ghost town.
Try to arrive a day or so earlier; I’ll be arriving mid-afternoon on Saturday before Fat Tuesday (that would be 2/24) so I’ll have 3 1/2 solid days of Carnival fun!
Check out http://www.nola.com/mardigras for information on when and where parades will be taking place.
And if you want to meet up for a drink, give me an “e.”
The way it looks as of right now is that we will be arriving there on or around the 27th, and we will be staying there for about a week after that. Will places still be busy after Tuesday? I know that the bars are open 24 hours during mardi gras, does that continue after the 27th as well. Considering the bulk of our time down there will be after the 27th, I’m just concerned that the place will be deserted in comparison to the week before. Thanks again.
What’s this? Parades in Metairie on Fat Tuesday? Had no idea. We always went into the city (One Shell Square). Got boring for me after four years in a row. Stayed home the fifth year, my parents went on their own. Of course at the time I was still in high school (we got the entire week off) and wasn’t aware of all the goings on after dark. It might be difficult to find bars open on the 28th, at least in the city. Supposedly, the bars in New Orleans only close one day out of the year. Guess which day that is?
Well, like I said, the French Quarter becomes a freaking ghost town on Ash Wednesday. By Thursday the bars in the Quarter will probably be open 24/7 again. Although they obviously aren’t going to be hoppin’ like they were during Carnival.