Would New Orleans cancel Mardi Gras 2021? ‘Something we have to think about,’ mayor says

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Tuesday she would not rule out canceling Carnival celebrations in 2021 as the city continues to recover from the novel coronavirus.

Cantrell, speaking with The Washington Post during an online forum, said data about the disease’s spread and how severely it impacts the city’s bottom line will guide decisions about the Carnival season next year, which is slated to begin January 6. Mardi Gras is Feb. 16.

“It’s something that we have to think about. It’s something that we have put on the table,” Cantrell said of shutting down next year’s festivities. “It will give me great pause right now before I commit to saying we are moving forward with Mardi Gras 2021.”

The comments from Cantrell represent the first official statement on a question that has swirled around the city in recent weeks: after the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Essence Festival of Culture and a host of other events big and small were canceled in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, might city leaders decide that even several months from now, the risk to public health is still too great to hold the biggest party of them all?

In addition to being a cultural touchstone for New Orleans residents, Carnival is the crown jewel of the city’s tourism industry, attracting over 1 million visitors every year who spend tens of millions of dollars at restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses. In many cases, preparations have already begun.

Several krewes said earlier this month that they were working to be ready for the 2021 celebration, while acknowledging that a post-coronavirus Carnival might have a different feel.

Krewe of Carrollton is “moving forward,” collecting dues from its members and preparing the floats that it owns, captain Wayne Lee said Tuesday. “It’s a scary thing that we are going through, but I think it’s too early to determine what’s going to be going on in our city in January and February of next year.”

The last time parades didn’t roll for Mardi Gras in New Orleans was 1979, when a police strike led krewes to cancel their parades for the season. In 1879, an outbreak of yellow fever led to festivities being curtailed, and parades were canceled during World War I and World War II.

Read the full story at Nola.com