No rest for Mardi Gras float-builders in Louisiana – Washington Times

No rest for Mardi Gras float-builders in Louisiana
Washington Times Mardi Gras helps fatten New Orleans businesses USA TODAY
Fox News -CNN (blog)
By Stacey Plaisance AP

One of the biggest free parties in the world fuels a multimillion-dollar industry for the city of New Orleans and the lifeblood of businesses like Mr. Kern’s studio, which has been operating for more than 50 years and makes or repurposes some 400 floats a year, or roughly a float a day, he said.The Mardi Gras season, which includes weeks of parades, fancy balls and parties leading up to the big day, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year, said Kelly Schulz, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ms. Schulz said a recent study conducted by Tulane University estimated the direct economic impact of Mardi Gras at roughly $144 million.

But “there’s no way to know for sure because we don’t sell tickets,” said Arthur Hardy, a Mardi Gras historian. “Mardi Gras started small, in private homes and private balls, and it’s evolved into this festival that some estimate produces more than a half-billion dollars a year.”

• Unpublished. Mardi Gras, New Orleans, 1938.TIME The story that ran in the March 14, 1938, issue of LIFE, alongside some of Vandivert’s photographs, was interesting enough, in its own way. Titled “LIFE goes to America’s Most Famous Party,” the five-page feature focused almost exclusively on the aristocratic Comus Ball, and the pomp and ceremony that attends the crowning of the ball’s king and queen. In fact, in 1938, LIFE was invited to the Comus Ball “to photograph it,” the magazine gently boasted to its readers, “for the press for the first and only time in its 81 years.
• Mardi Gras weekend’s perfect for a bachelorette bash NOLA.com
  New Orleans embodies the spirit of Fat Tuesday 365 days a year, making it the perfect destination for brides-to-be and their beloved girlfriends to celebrate upcoming nuptials, but fiancé-free!
  New Orleans offers endless venues for a festive bachelorette bash