Things Aren't Quite The Same For Mardi Gras

To the Dunce in Chief who did his drinking in New Orleans some 20 years ago I don't doubt that New Orleans looks like the same place today. However, for those who live in New Orleans or visit regularly we know the truth.

I flew into New Orleans last night from Newark. I was 3 hours late coming in. Ostensibly this was due to weather (high winds). But it is the reduced Mardi Gras attendance that caused the delay and the melodrama that followed. You see, Continental Airlines scheduled one of those tiny Embraer Jets for their scheduled flight from Newark to New Orleans. Usually this would have been a 737 that wouldn't have come in 2 hours late from Grand Rapids, Iowa because it was windy (these little jets don't handle well in the wind).

Of course the crowd on the plane was small. But they also weren't as raucous as the Friday night flight before Mardi Gras. Though this may have been due to the delay. The good news was that most of these people were coming down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, either to show support for the city they love, or just because they wanted to spend a week in oblivion as if nothing had happened here.

The next sign that things in New Orleans were still a bit different was the lone taxi at the airport (though again it was pretty late). I got in the taxi with 6 frat boys and after some bartering we agreed to pay $15/person, realising that there were likely no more taxis tonight.

Dropping people off on St Charles you couldn't help but notice the people who were clearly spending Mardi Gras sleeping in tents on the neutral ground. Were these people there every year, or is the only way they could afford Mardi Gras this year.

As our Odyssey proceeded through the CBD to the JW Marriott our taxi driver blew through some red lights, clearly giving the idea that there was some degree of lawlessness in this town.

It was encouraging to learn that the frat boys were going out drinking in the French Quarter as soon as they checked in.

The taxi died at the corner of Rampart and Esplanade. I left the cabbie there on the corner trying to restart his living and walked the rest of the way. Which is where I found the next 2 signs that things were different here. The neutral ground on Esplanade was now a car park. I speculate that this is because some of the parking lots are closed, and at least one of the traditional Mardi Gras lots is now a FEMA trailer park. The second sign was that the Port of Call was closed at 2am! Say no more.

The final sign that things are different here was when I went out for my run to pick up beignets from Cafe du Monde for breakfast. There was nary a one passed out drunken frat boy sleeping it off or staggering on the Moon Walk.

Yes, there are encouraging signs that New Orleans is coming back. People have come down for Mardi Gras, and they will have fun. But there are tell tale signs that things are not quite the same. Only time will tell if the city's businesses will get the Mardi Gras boost they so desparately need.