Heavy rain that forecasters worried could wash out Fat Tuesday parades did not appear as feared. And parade-goers Uptown came prepared.
Shelters pitched along the St. Charles Avenue neutral ground protected people from the occasional light shower, and no one left. Jack Woynowski enjoyed the Rex parade with his family, as he has for years.
“My son set up the tent and the tarp. And the tradition continues. I used to do this when he was little. Now he’s doing it when he’s got his kids.”
“So there are three generations here?”
“Yeah. Oh yeah.”
Barry Bailey looked around the crowd and the many costumes, and admired the city’s diversity.
“It’s a lesson for the world. New Orleans is — I used to think it was the only light in America. Now it’s light to the world.”
The wet forecast may have kept some people away from the Carnival’s last day. But parade routes and the French Quarter were packed with crowds keeping the party going until Ash Wednesday, and the start of Lent.