Mardi Gras parade routes modified to ‘maximize public safety’

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Mayor LaToya Cantrell, city officials, and representatives from two krewes announced parade route changes for the upcoming Mardi Gras season.

No krewe is being moved from their traditional day, Cantrell said.

“Every parade will be asked to make some accommodations. No one is being singled out; no one is being given special treatment,” she said.

• Endymion, Rex, and Zulu parades will remain mostly on their traditional routes with slight modifications.
• The Krewe of Endymion will not toast at the historic Gallier Hall on St. Charles Avenue. A new location will be announced at a later date.
• The Krewe of Zulu’s route will stay on the modified route used in 2020 to avoid the Hard Rock site.
• The Krewe of Rex will start at Napoleon and Carondelet then continue on its traditional route.
• Uptown parades will start at Napoleon and Prytania.
• Magazine Street has been removed from Uptown parade routes.
• All parades that traditionally start on the Riverside of Napoleon Ave., Jefferson Ave., Tchoupitoulas, and Henry Clay will now begin at Napoleon and Prytania.
• All parades that traditionally start at Napoleon and South Saratoga will now begin at Napoleon and Carondelet.
• Parades that start at Holiday Drive and Fiesta Street will start at Wall Boulevard and Holiday Drive.

A full list of the changes, provided by NOPD, is below:

Cantrell says the changes were made to “maximize public safety.” New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson says the changes are temporary for 2022.

In a press conference last week to expand the city’s vaccine mandate to include children ages five and up, Cantrell said her office will consider reimplementing an indoor mask mandate as Mardi Gras draws nearer.

New Orleans is leading the state in new Omicron cases. Health officials on Monday warned that another surge is knocking at our door.

Carnival historian Arthur Hardy says the proposition is more than an inconvenience.

“This is a major impact on more than half of the Orleans parish parades,” Hardy said. “[The proposal] shortens the parade route and the experience for riders, it affects businesses along the parade route, and it’s not anything that’s going to be welcomed.”

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