Biloxi mayor cancels all 2021 Mardi Gras parades as COVID-19 worsens in Mississippi
There will be no Mardi Gras parades rolling through Biloxi in February 2021.
Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich announced Wednesday that the city has decided that it’s best to cancel all parades scheduled in February with the worsening COVID-19 pandemic expected to cause problems well into the new year.
Mardi Gras day is Feb. 16, but Gilich also said officials could wait until April or May to reassess if the parades can be rescheduled.
“With much consideration given to the status of coronavirus today in our community, it should be no surprise that we announce the cancellation of the parade schedule to be held in February 2021,” Gilich said in a Wednesday press conference. “We’ve experienced wave after wave of the impact of COVID-19 on our families and friends. The life and safety of our citizens and visitors is at the top of the list.”
There were six Mardi Gras parades that took place in Biloxi in February of 2020 — Children’s Walking Parade, The Village at Tradition Parade, Krewe of Barkloxi, the Biloxi Second Liners, Krewe of Neptune and the Gulf Coast Carnival Association.
Gilich said the parades typically attract about 150,000 people to Biloxi, and the loss of the events will be a “multi-million” dollar impact on the local economy.
City Councilman Kenny Glavan, who represented Krewe of Neptune at the Wednesday press conference, was the first to mention the prospect of rescheduling the parades later in the year.
“I can assure you that members of the Krewe are completely heartbroken that we see the (COVID-19) numbers will not allow us to hold the night parade this year,” Glavan said. “We’re hopeful that if the numbers do go in our favor later on, perhaps Biloxi and the Gulf Coast can look forward to a parade later in the season. We understand where the mayor is coming from.”
When asked about Glavan’s idea of postponing the parades, Gilich mentioned waiting until the spring and reassessing whether parades can roll at a later date. But the mayor acknowledged that the coronavirus statistics do not look encouraging.
“Vaccinations may drop these numbers,” Gilich said. “Who knows? Maybe in June. But I don’t expect a downward trend (during the Mardi Gras season) that will allow us to gather hundreds of thousands of people in a super-spreader-kind-of event.
“As the vaccines and herd immunity grows, we’ll look at that. At this point in time, we’re getting ready for another wave from Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”
While Glavan held out hope that the Krewe of Neptune could hold a parade this year, Kenny Holloway of the Gulf Coast Carnival Association indicated he didn’t expect GCCA to conduct a parade in 2021.
“The mayor and I have been discussing this possibility for several months and monitoring the situation,” Holloway said. “It’s a sad day for us, but under the circumstances we fully agreed with the mayor not holding parades this year is just the prudent thing. The numbers are not in our favor. We waited as long as we can.”
The Biloxi Second Liners Marching Club had already canceled its event for 2021.
The Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen voted earlier this month to call off its two downtown parades.
Other Coast parades parades that had already been canceled prior to Gilich’s announcement include The St. Paul Carnival Association, the North Bay Mardi Gras parade and The Krewe of Nereids.
New Orleans announced in November that it was canceling all Mardi Gras parades for 2021.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 2:03 PM.
