Streams & Broadcasts
Can’t make it to Mardi Gras in New Orleans or prefer to view the action remotely? Enjoy live and on-demand coverage of parades and more.
Parade Maps and Apps
In 2022, Mardi Gras happenings and parades begin on Twelfth Night (January 6) and run through Fat Tuesday (March 1). Never has it been easier to have vital information at your fingertips — and not just for the big float parades that draw most of the attention.
How to Ride in a Parade
Riding on a float in a Mardi Gras parade — bestowing coveted baubles into the outstretched hands of a jazzed crowd — can be quite a thrill. Fortunately for those with a yen to play Santa Claus, some parading krewes let outsiders join in the fun — for a price. A ride...
Balconies & Grandstands
While there’s something to be said for mixing it up with the hoi polloi in the streets, access to grandstands and balconies does offer certain advantages. Because let’s face it: The Greatest Free Show on Earth draws quite a crowd, and if you’re stuck in pedestrian...
Dealing with the Police
New Orleans cops generally take a “live and let live” approach during Mardi Gras, but that doesn’t mean the coast is all clear when sailing several sheets to the wind. Every year during the party frenzy ending at midnight on Fat Tuesday, a multitude of imbibers and...
Driving and Parking
Perhaps the only thing worse than getting caught in parade-related traffic is returning from a parade to find your car has been towed for being illegally parked. The city’s Parking Violations Bureau is notoriously unmerciful during Mardi Gras, so if you’re driving,...
Throw Me Something Mister!
In the heat of the moment, the perceived value of the exotic bounty tossed from parade floats cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Because it cannot be bought, only bestowed and won, it is, in a sense, priceless.The quest for beaucoup booty at Mardi Gras A...
Throw-Catching Tips
Increasing your chances of reaping a worthy share of the coveted spoils begins with recognizing that, while throws are sometimes tossed at random to parade audiences, most of what float riders toss is aimed at specific people, with a lot of the best stuff saved for...
Parade Tips
New Orleans Mardi Gras parades are a feast for the senses, with floats that bemuse and entertain, bands full of joyful noise, inspired dance troupes and showers of baubles that stoke an exhilarating feeding frenzy. Can’t you almost feel da boom of dat big bass drum?...
Blaine Kern
After turning down a job offer from a fellow master of fantasy, Walt Disney, Blaine Kern built his own kingdom of make-believe in the city of Mardi Gras dreams — becoming perhaps the world’s largest builder of parade floats. In New Orleans, he is known as Mr. Mardi...