Is New Orleans Ready For 'The' Party?

The Big Weekend is approaching for New Orleans, and many in the city are nervous whether they are prepared for the first post-Katrina Mardi Gras weekend:

At Kathleen Young's yellow French Quarter hotel, the brass has been polished until it's gleaming and baskets of brightly colored flowers line the balconies in hopes of making a good impression on the city's first major influx of tourists since Hurricane Katrina.

But Young worries the city isn't ready for the hordes of visitors that could come to what may be the city's most important Mardi Gras ever, an event in which the tourism industry seeks to win back the confidence of meeting planners and leisure tourists and repair the damage done to its image in the mayhem following Hurricane Katrina.

"I just hope they don't judge us by what's not done yet. I hope they judge us by what's been done," said Young, the general manager of the Chateau LeMoyne hotel.

Phase One of the Crescent City's big test comes Friday night when three krewes -- Morpheus (which pre-Katrina -- or pre-K for short -- rolled a week before Fat Tuesday) joins Friday normals d'Etat and old-timer Hermes -- roll down the Uptown route. These three parades are not massive, but pre-K, they averaged 25 or so floats and several hundred krewe members each. Many tourists may decide to skip these, however, and come into the city Saturday morning to "see how it goes."

Which means Saturday is very important. The morning begins with the Iris and Tucks krewes. They are large, with 30 floats each and more than 800 members. (Pre-K, Iris was the largest female-only krewe with 900 members.)

After a short break on the Uptown route, the massive Endymion parade rolls. Normally, Endymion would take the Mid-City route, but New Orleans officials limited the number of routes so police could more easily cover multiple parades in a day. Pre-K, Endymion was the largest krewe with 2,000 members, and it typically used 28 of the "super-floats" that seem to go on for miles. It is one of the most popular tourist parades because of its size and glitz and certainly for the locals, too, since this bunch is the "King of Throws."

If New Orleans can handle Saturday night, it can handle anything, because the casual tourists are more inclined to drive over for the day from Mississippi, Florida and Alabama as opposed to the tourists who come to stay for the long weekend of Friday night through Mardi Gras Day (Fat Tuesday).

Sunday means Okeanos and Thoth earlier in the day and Mid-City and Bacchus later in the afternoon and into the evening. Okeanos and Thoth aren't that large, although Thoth always seemed to have a lot of floats. But not the super-floats. Mid-City is known more for its quality of bands than sheer size, but Bacchus is one of the "big boys." We don't call this day "Bacchus Sunday" for nothing. Pre-K, it had 1,200 members and more than two dozen super-floats. This year's parade is led by actor Michael Keaton, and entertainment includes Willie "Brokeback Mountain" Nelson. And, of course, it will feature the Bacchagator!

On Lundi Gras (Monday), there's Proteus and Orpheus. Proteus is the second-oldest krewe, but not large. If you're there, though, securing their famous sea horse beads is a treat. Orpheus is another big 'un, with co-founder Harry Connick Jr.'s star power, it has quickly grown to the size of Bacchus.

Then the festivities conclude on Tuesday with Zulu and Rex (and a couple of smaller parades after those). Together, Zulu and Rex had about 2,000 members Pre-K and more than 60 floats. Zulu (with its prized painted coconuts) is a traditionally black krewe and Rex (which means "King") has been traditionally white. In a show of reconciliation, in 1999, the two kings met and toasted each other. I'm assuming that will happy this year, as well.

The hoards then invade the Quarter and the krewes are off to their elaborate balls. At midnight, Lent begins and the police move in to clear the streets. If you don't move fast enough, the street cleaners and their water cannons will help you along.

Here's wishing New Orleans a happy, safe and successful Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler!