Katrina can't kill Carnival

Saw this on www.nola.com ... for those who missed it ... For those of you that might not planning to rebuild in N.O. ... I'm sending out the first of many invites ... Milian Lounge, Mardi Gras, 2006 ... could you really think of being anywhere else?????????

Arthur Hardy: Katrina can't kill Carnival

Just off the phone with Arthur Hardy, who for 30 years has published the definitive Mardi Gras Guide, and is one of the most public faces and experts on all things Carnival. He's talking behind the scenes with krewe captains and presidents, and speaks of a growing resolve in the Carnival community that Mardi Gras will roll. And he agrees on the importance of this Carnival season as a sign to the world that New Orleans has survived and refuses to die . . . a historic event we are likening to New York's New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square after the 9/11 attacks.

In a release delivered to the Press Club of New Orleans on Sept. 11, Hardy detailed the work beginning on arranging this historic Mardi Gras:


KATRINA CAN'T KILL CARNIVAL

Yes, Virginia, there will be a Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 2006. So says Arthur Hardy, who for 30 years has published the annual Mardi Gras Guide magazine. Only four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, Hardy predicted in an Associated Press interview that New Orleans would use the celebration as a catalyst for the city's recovery. "Just as the start of the Saints NFL season lifted the spirits of its citizens in September, so will Mardi Gras spread joy to visitors and locals early next year."

The 2006 celebration was already primed to be special since it marks the 150th anniversary of the first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. "It will be smaller than usual and different in some ways, but it will continue. We are survivors," Hardy said from Hammond, Louisiana, where he has temporarily relocated his office, a clearing house of Mardi Gras information. "There's no way this region would simply decide to take a year off to regroup. We owe it to our ancestors and to our children to keep Mardi Gras alive."

Only wars have darkened the annual pre-Lenten festival since the first parade rolled in 1857.

"Momentum in the Mardi Gras community has been gathering this week, with several parade officials expressing the feeling that it is their civic responsibility to help Mardi Gras continue. By October 1 it should become clear which of the 55 organizations plan to participate in the 2006 parade season, scheduled to run from Friday, February 17 to February 28 -- Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). "

Several clubs have the resources to mount a parade, while smaller groups may need outside assistance." Corporate sponsorship of parades is forbidden by city ordinance and by tradition, but that could change on a one-time-only basis for 2006, Hardy thinks. Already several major companies from across America (which prefer to remain anonymous for now), have offered to help underwrite some of the costs of the celebration.

"Mardi Gras has a billion dollar economic impact on New Orleans, but, more importantly, it embodies the heart and soul of the city. It is our gift to the world."



As reported earlier, this release came at about the same time that master float designer and Mardi Gras parade architect Blaine Kern Sr. declared that Mardi Gras would roll.

Between these two guys - both of whom have their finger on the inside pulse of Carnival - you can take it to the bank. There will be a Mardi Gras.