What Are the Steps to Be Safe at a Mardi Gras Parade?
Mardi Gras, French for "Fat Tuesday," celebrates the last day of feasting before the more somber season of Lent. The largest Mardi Gras celebration takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, where dozens of parades mark the holiday. A New Orleans Mardi Gras parade involves the crowd, as riders throw beads, doubloons and toys from their colorful floats. While this element of interaction makes these parades exciting, it also presents safety concerns.
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Instructions
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Safety for Children
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Keep children close to you at all times. The crowds at parades can be large, and it's easy for children to become separated from parents.
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Teach children to seek a police officer if they become separated from you. Municipal police departments allocate dozens of officers to circulate through the crowd, and reuniting lost children with families becomes easier when a child enlists the help of an officer with a radio who can coordinate the effort.
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Instruct children not to enter or cross the street during a parade. While kids may ordinarily know not to dart across the street, they can become distracted during a search for a strand of shiny beads. Mardi Gras floats move slowly, but they still present a danger to kids who get too close to their large wheels.
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Place ladder seats at least as far from the curb as the ladder is tall to ensure that if the ladder falls, it will not send a child tumbling to the street. These homemade or store-bought ladder seats give children an excellent view of the parade but can present a safety hazard if they topple.
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Choose a Mardi Gras costume that doesn't obstruct a child's view. Bulky masks that limit peripheral vision can lead to bumps and falls.
Safety for Adults
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Travel in groups during Mardi Gras. Not only are parades more fun when you're with a larger group of people, but you'll remain safer when surrounded with those you know.
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Drink from plastic containers. New Orleans laws permit consumption of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages from plastic containers but not from glass bottles.
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Consume alcohol in moderation. Although New Orleans' laws permit public drinking, disorderly conduct and public intoxication remain illegal.
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Maintain at least 5 feet of separation from floats in a Mardi Gras parade. A press from the back of the crowd can inadvertently put you in harm's way if you're too close to the floats at the front of the crowd.
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Carry your money close to your body. Although the vast majority of paradegoers are there to have fun, too, any large crowd draws occasional pickpockets, and Mardi Gras parades are no exception.
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Tips & Warnings
If you drink alcohol, eat between drinks. Parade food vendors and restaurants along parade routes are plentiful.
Check local laws if you're attending a parade outside the New Orleans metropolitan area.
References
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