New Orleans' residents don't rule out Mardi Gras
Probably the last thing a city inundated with water and filled with human misery needs is a parade, much less a Mardi Gras.
But just a week after Hurricane Katrina unleashed its devastation, there already are signs New Orleans is remaining loyal to its partying ways.
Over the weekend, about two dozen people in beads, hula skirts and wigs danced down Bourbon Street in a symbolic show that life must go on.
A few months from now, there’s a good chance there might even be some kind of scaled-back Mardi Gras. “I think now more than ever we need a reason to celebrate. It’s really at our core,” said Arthur Hardy, publisher of the Mardi Gras Guide.
“I can’t imagine the city rolling over and playing dead and saying, ‘I surrender’.”
With thousands believed dead and authorities still unable to collect bodies, even talk of a Mardi Gras celebration might seem disrespectful.
But New Orleans has always loved a good time, and when the two-week, pre-Lent celebration comes around next February, floats could be parading down streets now covered in water.
