NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Maintenance workers swept and hosed down sidewalks outside of bars, restaurants and strip clubs and street-sweeping trucks made continuous passes on Bourbon Street as a few straggling tourists took in the ritual of the post Mardi Gras cleanup on Wednesday.
A regular visitor from Atlanta, Jan Crofford, had spent much of Mardi Gras marching in the St. Anne parade, one of the small, informal processions of costumed revelers that weave through the French Quarter and adjoining neighborhoods. As she walked through the Quarter on Ash Wednesday she carried a shopping bag. Her forehead bore the smudge of ashes from a morning Mass at St. Louis Cathedral in the historic Jackson Square.
“That’s part of it, too,” she said. “We always get to the 7:30 Mass.”
Blocks away, in the city’s central business district, Catholic restaurant workers, business people and employees from a nearby courthouse packed St. Patrick’s Church in downtown New Orleans.
“Mardi Gras was fun. The parades were fun, but today is about repentance and reflection,” said Christian Sarrat, escorting his wife into the church. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It’s important to remember that, to remember where you came from and what’s ahead.”
The pre-Lenten Mardi Gras bash is a multi-faceted event that takes place throughout the metropolitan area, including lavish parades, family friendly gatherings in some areas and raucous, often raunchy street parties in others. This year the traditional two-week buildup of parades and balls was interrupted by Super Bowl week. It posed an unprecedented challenge for New Orleans police and other law enforcement agencies.
Arrest numbers for the season were not available Wednesday but police reported no major problems other than Saturday night when four people were shot on Bourbon Street. Two suspects have turned themselves in and police said they were also seeking a person of interest in the shooting.
Crofford said she didn’t think the shooting would scare away future crowds.
“I feel safe here,” said Crofford. “I think it’s random. I think a lot of times that violence is between people who knew each other. I don’t think they’re just coming out to get me.”
Still, Earl Bernhardt, owner of six French Quarter bars and restaurants, worried about more of such violent outbreaks.
“It does make people apprehensive,” said Bernhardt, who lost more than two hours of business at one of his bars because police blocked off a section of Bourbon after the shooting.
Fat Tuesday crowds, while large, appeared to have been diminished a bit by intermittent light rain and forecasts of possible storms. But Bernhardt was not disappointed.
He complained that free NFL events, including riverside concerts, actually hurt his business during Super Bowl week, but said the Mardi Gras crowds were money-makers.
“We ended up pretty decent,” he said. “The crowds were a little smaller but they seemed to be spending well. We grossed about what we did last year.”
