A Look at Louisiana’s Mardi Gras Festivities Through the Years

The captain rides on a float with moving eyes and mouth as the Krewe of Mid-City parades on the Uptown route in New Orleans on Feb. 11, 2024. Sophia Germer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP

After a weekslong pre-Lenten bash—complete with elaborate parades that meander through New Orleans, shimmery beads tossed from floats, streets lined with costumed revelers, lavish balls, and seafood boils—Louisiana’s 2025 Carnival Season is approaching its grand conclusion.

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, which takes place March 4, marks the party’s climax and the end of Carnival Season on the Gulf Coast. The conclusion falls the day before Ash Wednesday and is seen as a final day of feasting and revelry before the solemnity of Lent.

The Krewe of Zulu takes the turn onto Canal Street from St. Charles Avenue on Mardi Gras, in New Orleans on Feb. 17, 2015. Matthew Hinton/The Advocate via AP

Parade-goers try to catch beads thrown from floats during the Krewe of Bacchus Mardi Gras parade rolls down Napoleon Ave. in New Orleans on March 2, 2014. Gerald Herbert/AP Photo

Each year, along with Louisiana residents, more than a million visitors travel to New Orleans to partake in the city’s world-famous Carnival celebrations.

The bash includes feasting, drinking, and a plethora of parades. Many spend their time along parade routes, with their hands raised in the air to catch “throws”—trinkets tossed to spectators by float riders and walking members of carnival clubs known as krewes.

While throws include plastic beads, candy, stuffed animals, cups, and toys, there are also the more coveted items such as painted coconuts, hand-decorated shoes, and bedazzled toilet plungers.

Mardi Gras revelers greet a float from the Zulu parade at the corner of St. Charles and Canal Streets in New Orleans, La., on Mardi Gras day on Feb. 11, 1997. Andrew J. Cohoon/AP Photo

The annual jollification is not limited to the Big Easy. Similar celebrations are held across Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast. Mobile, Alabama, lays claim to the nation’s oldest Mardi Gras celebration. And other lavish Carnival celebrations in Brazil and Europe are world-renowned.