NEW ORLEANS — As the year 2025 unfolds, New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas are gearing up for the peak of the Carnival season. Parades teeming with vibrantly masked riders will cascade through the main avenues, while some merrymakers don formal attire for grand balls and others choose witty costumes to revel in the festivities.
The parade excitement kicks off with three spectacular processions on Thursday night in New Orleans, showcasing an array of colorful floats and masked participants. These parades will continue daily until the culmination of Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. The French Quarter promises to be bustling with costumed revelers, while additional parades roll through New Orleans’ suburbs, various Louisiana cities, and along coastal regions of Mississippi and Alabama.
Mardi Gras, deeply anchored in Christian and Roman Catholic heritage, commences on January 6, the twelfth night after Christmas, extending to Mardi Gras itself. This marks a day of indulgence in feasting and revelry before Ash Wednesday, signaling the start of Lent—a period of fasting and preparation for Easter.
In New Orleans, Carnival festivities have evolved into grandiose, secular celebrations, recognized nationwide for their street revelries, elaborate balls, and lively parades. These parades often feature cutting-edge displays with grand floats, vivid lights, and animated figures.
“It’s all about family. It’s like a six-mile-long block party and nothing could be more fun. It’s for everyone,” shares Virginia Saussy from the Krewe of Muses, anticipating the parade on Thursday night. “You have to experience it to really understand.”
In southwest Louisiana, another Mardi Gras tradition unfolds through the Cajun French practice known as the Courir de Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday Run. This rural custom, rooted in medieval French rituals, involves participants in masks and costumes pursuing live chickens to conclude with a communal gumbo.
In New Orleans, the Mardi Gras Indian tradition persists with African American participants wearing intricate beaded and feathered suits, performing throughout the city. A tradition tracing back to at least the late 19th century, it pays respect to Native Americans who aided Black people and runaway slaves, at a time when segregation hindered Black participation in traditional parades.
Recent security concerns linger following a severe truck attack on January 1 that claimed 14 lives in New Orleans. Consequently, the Department of Homeland Security has escalated Mardi Gras’ risk level, leading to heightened security measures. Eric DeLaune, leading security efforts as the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, assures that this year’s festival will have a substantial law enforcement presence, similar to arrangements during the Super Bowl earlier this year. The strategies include SWAT teams, armored vehicles on streets, helicopters overhead, and plainclothes agents within the crowds.
DeLaune emphasizes, “We’ve made an effort to make carnival season as safe as we possibly can without intruding on the historical and cultural context of Mardi Gras. We didn’t want to change the feel of Mardi Gras.”
Onlookers will gather along the scenic St. Charles Avenue to admire towering floats, marching bands, and celebrities. To safeguard these gatherings, a snake-like arrangement of barricades has been implemented to deter high-speed vehicle threats while allowing traffic to flow. “You’re going to weave it like a snake,” elaborated New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, highlighting this as a deterrent to vehicular threats.
Drones are prohibited from flying over the festivities, and ice chests—previously used in the January attack—are barred from crowded sections of the French Quarter, states Louisiana State Police Superintendent Robert Hodges.
Mardi Gras’ date variability is due to its linkage to Easter. This year it falls on March 4, signaling one of the later possible dates due to its calculation relative to the first full moon of spring. Subsequently, this period often brings warmer weather along the Gulf Coast but there remains a possibility of rain on Mardi Gras day.
“Throws,” the cherished trinkets distributed by parade float riders and carnival club members, are synonymous with Mardi Gras. While shimmery plastic beads saturate the occasion, some krewes are exploring environmentally conscious alternatives. The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club parade annually delights crowds with painted coconuts. At Thursday’s Muses parade, attendees vie for glittery hand-decorated shoes.
As Saussy reflects, “The first year we created a bead that was a stiletto shoe and it was just to be a commemorative bead — but it took off. People love shoes, who knew?”
