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 Funny: New Orleans Mardi Gras mocks bailouts

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RR Phantom

RR Phantom

Location : Wasted Space
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Funny: New Orleans Mardi Gras mocks bailouts Vide
PostSubject: Funny: New Orleans Mardi Gras mocks bailouts   Funny: New Orleans Mardi Gras mocks bailouts Icon_minitimeTue Feb 24, 2009 4:30 pm

The economic downturn couldn't overshadow the Mardi Gras revelry on Tuesday as party-goers jostled for beads on parade routes and the French Quarter swelled with boozy fun and masked crowds.

Many revellers turned the tables on the recession, dressing in costumes riffing on bailouts, the stimulus package and busted budgets.

Suzanne Gravener, a 59-year-old New Orleans teacher, dressed as the Statue of Liberty - without a crown. That, she joked, had to be sold for cash because of the hard times. Her husband lost his job as a dairy salesman.

"I still have my torch, though," she said, and Carnival was one luxury the family could afford. "This is the greatest free show on earth."

The day started with clarinetist Pete Fountain leading his Half-Fast Walking Club into the streets, marking the unofficial opening of Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday.

By dawn, spectators crammed parade routes and costumed revellers mingled with all-night partiers in the French Quarter's narrow streets.

The first parade of the day was Zulu, the traditional African-American parade, followed by Rex, the king of Carnival, and hundreds of truck floats.

Mayor Ray Nagin rode on horseback dressed as what he called a "recovery gladiator" in honour of the city's rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina was on the mind of Cherry Gilbert, a 42-year-old Seattle bus driver who helped organise a reunion for about 80 family members, many displaced to cities like Dallas and Atlanta by the 2005 storm.

"This is the first time since Katrina we've all gathered here and it's a beautiful thing," Gilbert said. "There's nothing like New Orleans ... and family."

Despite the economy, tourism officials hope to match last year's crowd of about 750,000. Before Katrina, Fat Tuesday typically brought in about 1 million people.

Many visitors gather in the French Quarter area, where Carnival's more ribald side takes place.

Mardi Gras ends at midnight Tuesday. In heavily Catholic New Orleans, many revellers will be in church Wednesday to have ashes daubed on their foreheads as they begin 40 days of prayer, penitence and self-denial leading up to Easter.


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