Everyone wondered how it would turn out, and I think we all hoped that Mardi Gras 2006 would bring back some of the levity, some of the joy to this city that has suffered so much. So far, so good, even if only for a day.
Michael Wilson and
Susan Saulney give us the goods in the NYTimes article,
"Mardi Gras Draws Many Back to New Orleans, for Just a Day"
"Mardi Gras Day 2006 was elevated — or doomed, some would say — to a new level of importance and scrutiny immediately after city leaders vowed last year to go ahead with the two-week party. The day wore a you-were-there gravity like clunky beads. Nature lent itself to a good time: It was beautiful, a warm, sunny day, as though lifted and dropped into early May... A person could walk along a parade route with relative ease, unthinkable in recent years. Children were everywhere, even during the evening parades, seeming to edge out the profane and the debauchery from the usual Bourbon Street strip."
As we all sigh a collective sigh of relief, I find myself rooting for
New Orleans and hoping that the momentum will endure a while longer!
