Mardi Gras Returns!

New Orleans, LA -
Mardi Gras is back! Everyone enjoyed the Super Bowl, but let's be honest - nothing beats Mardi Gras! The parades, the frivolity, the beer... ah, Mardi Gras! Interestingly enough, many of the locals have come to appreciate the crowds that surge through the French Quarter during Mardi Gras.

People's attitudes are different during Mardi Gras, they're in a happy, party atmosphere, which changes our attitudes for the better!

"People's attitudes are different during Mardi Gras," Liz DeLaune, head of Sales & Marketing at Ralph & Kacoo's restaurant told us, "they're in a happy, party atmosphere, which changes our attitudes for the better!"

Which is the exact opposite of what many would expect from businesses faced with the prospect of so many revelers in such a relatively small area.

But that's part of New Orleans' charm... the locals are as excited about Mardi Gras as the visitors.

"We actually enjoy it! Bring's in a lot of people who are having a good time," Sue Loustalot, Vice-President of Marketing at M.S. Rau Antiques said when asked about Mardi Gras's impact on the store, "a good portion of us are from New Orleans, and we're right out there when the parades come by... so its fun."

Speaking of parades, they're picking up again... they kick off with the Ancient Druids in Uptown on the 5th, and keep going until Mardi Gras Day, the 12th.

These parades are the central rite of Mardi Gras, and have been taking place for well over 100 years.

Mardi Gras is famous for the Krewes of locals who throw the parades, balls and other events that make up "Carnival," or Mardi Gras. These are the crazy people who make and ride the floats in the parades, and whose attention you'll have to get if you're wanting any of the beads or doubloons they throw to the crowds.

Speaking of which, if you're planning to go for the beads and doubloons, be careful... you can get smashed fingers in the crush of the crowd.

Mardi Gras is the world's most famous street party for many reasons, not least, that the French Quarter is the perfect place to localize an otherwise wild time.

After the parades, many of which are held on Canal Street, most people head down Bourbon Street and into the Quarter.

And that's where the majority of them stay, carried along by the surging crowds from one balcony to the next... this is where you'll see the somewhat frowned upon Mardi Gras tradition of exchanging beads for flashes of skin.

But Mardi Gras is more than just booze and beads... it's the only time many visitors will come to the city, and they crowd the world famous restaurants and shops of the French Quarter.

Businesses in the Quarter vie for the attention of visitors, though the best often don't have to try...

"Ralph & Kacoo's treat our Mardi Gras customers like we do our visitors throughout the year - exceptionally," Liz DeLaune told us when asked what the restaurant does differently during Mardi Gras. "Yes, we decorate for the season, and book large parties, but it's actually business as usual in many ways."

While that's a true New Orleans attitude to take - unflappable and elegant - it was probably Sue Loustalot of M.S. Rau Antiques who voiced the sentiment with which most of us can relate: "...this is the only place you can work, going about your business, and outside there's a 107 piece band going by!