New Orleans Mardi Gras

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A lot of people tend to be intimated by New Orleans annual festive celebration, Mardi Gras. Crowds without limits, over the top costumes, and outrageous parades that destroy the streets with littered goodies thrown by masked individuals on the floats, can be quite startling for someone’s first experience. However, it is an event like none other and one I would carefully recommend in good spirit to all to attend.

New Orleans is known for their food and “king cake” is a special treat that comes with the festive activities of this time of year. It is a giant cinnamon roll with purple, green, and yellow (Mardi Gras colors) sugar spread across the top. It is a simple, but an incredible, indescribable treat. However, be careful not to accidentally swallow the plastic baby hidden inside the cake. Tradition says whoever gets the baby has to buy the next king cake. 

The parades are intense to say the least. Huge elaborate floats with vivid colors and designs come one after another down the roads tossing all manners of goodies into the air. Thousands of people line the streets and throw their hands up yelling for the attention of those willfully tossing out the beads, toys, and candy. Sometimes one has to be cautious because you never know if a full bag of beads will slap you across the face.

These parades can sometimes go all day long, but nothing compares to Mardi Gras Day (the last day of the festival). Instead of standard floats, huge semi-trucks pull massive trailers filled with eager throwers who would want nothing more than to spoil the crowd with their surplus of goodies. It is trucks after trucks which come non-stop for almost four hours throwing everything imaginable into the frantic, wild crowd. It almost gets repetitive, but it is so wild and different from anything you’ll ever do that it never gets old.

Mardi Gras is wild, unpredictable, and something that everyone should try at least once. There are things I would strongly recommend avoiding, but the majority of the events are family friendly. It is like nothing else, just come prepared to throw your hands up and scream eagerly.