Economy Can't Spoil Mardi Gras

Revelers enter final day of festivities
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 24, 2009 2:34 PM CST
Economy Can't Spoil Mardi Gras
Revelers throw and catch beads as the Zulu parade rolls down St. Charles Avenue on Mardi Gras in New Orleans today.   (AP Photo)

Partiers in New Orleans are taking one last chance to eat, drink, and be merry today before Lent. Tourism officials don't believe the economic downturn has dampened the mood at this year's Mardi Gras celebrations and say big crowds over the weekend and nearly full hotels bode well for the annual event.

Thousands of revelers lined the streets this morning for one more day of parades before Mardi Gras officially ends at midnight. In heavily Catholic New Orleans, many will be in church tomorrow to have ashes daubed on their foreheads as they begin 40 days of prayer, penitence, and self-denial leading up to Easter. (More Mardi Gras stories.)

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