Day 49 - Baton Rouge to New Orleans: Mardi Gras Parade

Bayou Segnette State Park is near New Orleans, but far enough to be a quiet location.
We were going to skip New Orleans because we had already been here 17 years ago. But what the heck. Laissez les bon temps rouler ! (Let the good times roll!) It's the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. Today there are three parades scheduled, one in the afternoon and two in the evening.
We park the rig in a hurry. We want to make it to the French Quarter before the start of the walking parade by the Krewe of Cork. It's all about wine.
There is a phone app that tells you where the parade is advancing in its itinerary.
We situate ourselves on a curve to have a long look of all the participants. This is so much fun!

After dinner we are ready for another parade. This one is going to be bigger with real floats. We buy tickets to get a seat on the bleachers. We wait a couple of hours from the scheduled time start time.
Finally they come. It's a cacophony of people screaming, blaring music, and engines revving. There are cowboys on horses, exhausted girls in glittering outfits, high school bands wearing the funkiest outfits, and then the floats. The crowd goes crazy, because that's when we get the beads.

We heckle them with 'HEY!'... and here comes a shower of trinkets. We get necklaces, rings and tiaras with flashing lights. The tiaras even have settings for three different blinking modes. We get stuffed animals, plastic hand slappers, wands, hula hoops, small backpacks with surprise gifts, and then beads ...and more beads in all kinds of colors and sizes. Sometimes they throw a whole bag of beads and it makes a big noise when it falls on the metal bleachers. I want the necklace with the biggest beads. I reach to catch one and it bangs on my pinkie finger. It's another girl's loot. Necklaces fall on the ground and break. The trinket plastic wraps, discarded on the street, twirl in the air like a mini tornado, going up high toward the skyscrapers.
We are not impressed with the floats. They all seem shaped the same and pretty commercial with  statues of animated film characters like Buzz Lightyear. Only the colors are different. Were they all made by the same people?



At 11 pm both parades are done. We walk on the street and it's a total mess. There is plastic, beads, discarded cans and bottles. It's a total mess. Bill and I are in shock, like when you drink a lot and then you regret it when you feel sick.
We take pictures and videos. We can't believe that the city of New Orleans in the year 2019 allows this to happen from January 6 to Mardi Gras, several times during each weekend!
We wonder down to Bourbon street. Lots of drunks with giant drinks in plastic cups.
I can't get past the waste. I am disgusted and I can't get over it.
On the way to the car, we see a crew of 50 street sweepers following a couple of sweeping machines. All will be cleaned up by morning.

We read more about this issue. It has been known for a long time and it's getting worse. There is even a documentary on the exploited young girls in China that work in the bead factory.
According to this article, the city has already sent 620 tons of debris to the landfill this year alone, and it's not over yet. Last year, the Mardi Gras period produced 1,300 tons.
I feel bad. I want to recycle my beads. There is an association that does just that.