Saturday, January 26, 2008
Carnival season heating up in New Orleans (10:17 a.m.)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans' annual Carnival season got off to
a rough start when thunderstorms and chilly temperatures canceled or
postponed all but one parade in the city and surrounding towns and
suburbs.
About 50 others will roll over the next 12 days, culminating on
Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the season's raucous pre-Lenten climax
which falls this year on Feb. 5.
Rain showers were likely Saturday morning but forecasts said the
chance of rain should decrease by the afternoon and temperatures -
in the low 40s Fahrenheit (5 to 6 Celsius) Friday night - were
expected to be in the upper 50s (15 Celsius) on Saturday.
Friday's New Orleans parades were being staged by the clubs
(known here as "krewes") of Oshun and Pygmalion. Oshun rolled
despite the rain, but Pygmalion rescheduled its romp through the
streets for Wednesday. The parades scheduled in suburban Jefferson
Parish and on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain were also
postponed. The biggest parades - among them Endymion, Bacchus,
Orpheus, Rex and Zulu - will take place during the season's final
four days. Some will feature celebrity riders, including movie star
Kevin Costner, who is scheduled to ride in Endymion on Friday, Feb.
2.
In the last extensive economic study of Mardi Gras - performed
for the 2000 season by the University of New Orleans - the total
impact was pegged at $1.05 billion. In 2006, just six months after
Katrina flooded most of the city, the crowd was down from the usual
1 million visitors to about 350,000, with local residents doing most
of the celebrating, according to UNO.
An estimated 800,000 participated last year.
One factor that could influence the number of visitors this year
is timing. The season is pegged to the arrival of Ash Wednesday and
Easter, which vary from year to year. This year, Ash Wednesday is
Feb. 6, making for one of the earliest Mardi Gras seasons possible.
That often means the peak of the season does not coincide with
college spring breaks and that weather is likely to be colder,
discouraging visitors. (AP) |
