New Orleans - A black and gold float that includes replicas of Saints players sits ready to roll at Blaine Kern Studios. It will be part of the much anticipated "Saints Parade" that is scheduled to roll downtown on Tuesday as a tribute to the team for being in the Super Bowl.
Parade expert Barry Kern told FOX 8 News that there will be 10 to 12 floats in the parade and that the team will play a major role. "It's a small parade by parade standards but its going to have the entire team and staff of the Saints and its going to have some of the best bands the city of New Orleans has to offer," Kern said.
Kern said enthusiasm about the parade is building. "I've been doing parades all my life, that's all I know, I've never seen more interest, I've never received more phone calls, emails, its unbelievable the amount of interest in this parade," Kern further stated.
Canal Street businesses are preparing for the parade which will roll past their doors. "I think its going to be a second Mardi Gras, its going to be absolutely wild and fun and I think everybody's looking forward to it," said Andre' Rubenstein of Rubensteins Clothing Shop.
He said the Saints have already been great for business. "Anything black and gold and we have just really sold a lot of shirts, T-shirts, whether it's the Drew Brees shirt or another shirt with the Saints or it's just black and gold, we've had a lot of demand for gold ties, black shirts, we've sold out of those," Rubenstein said.
"The feedback that we've gotten from downtown retailers is that the better the Saints do, the better they do, so I think most of the retailers are going to be very happy about the parade, it's going to bring a lot of people downtown and it's going to bring a lot of happy people and happy people tend to spend money," said Kurt Weigle of the Downtown Development District.
The parade is set to begin at the Superdome at 5pm Tuesday. Assistant Police Superintendent Marlon Defillo said they will treat this parade like a Mardi Gras parade as far as security is concerned.
