Mardi Gras cranks up with little worry about security

NEW ORLEANS -- The woman stood on the French Quarter street, a spiked cafe au lait in one hand, feathered Mardi Gras mask in the other, listening to the solo trumpeter blowing an old blues number.

Three days into her vacation and a day away from the climax of the city's annual pre-Lenten blowout, Doreen Anderson was not worried about security, terrorists or anything except collecting beads and memories.

"It's been a rough year on all of us, sad times," the Los Angeles woman said. "That's why I'm here. All I was thinking about was how good a party would be right now,"

New Orleans is wrapping up its annual Carnival, the heavily Catholic city's final fling before Lent. The festivities were interrupted this year by Super Bowl. The NFL game was pushed back a week by the terrorist attacks, forcing New Orleans to split the two weekends of parades that lead up to Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.

'We're not worried'

Beginning Friday, tourists poured into town, with nonstop festivities along Bourbon Street and dozens of parades through city neighborhoods.

"We're not worried about anything," said New Orleans police spokesman Lt. Sidney Bournes. "We think the chances of anything happening are remote, but we remain vigilant."

The police department, already on 12-hour shifts for Mardi Gras, was supplemented by 50 National Guard troops and 100 state police officers.

"The first weekend of parades had no trouble, and of course, the Super Bowl went off without a hitch," Bournes said. "We expect the same thing for the rest of Carnival."

Most arrests during Mardi Gras are for disturbing the peace, although occasionally the police have to break up fights, Bournes said. Other common charges are for public drunkenness and indecent exposure.

"We try to warn people first," Bournes said. "We want everyone to have a good time. We just don't want anyone to interfere with anyone else's good times."

Staking out seats

Along the parade route on historic St. Charles Avenue, red, white and blue interspersed the traditional Carnival colors of purple, green and gold. American flags decorated many of the mansions that lined the street.

By 8 a.m., people were staking out front-row spots for Monday night's two parades and the almost continuous floats from early morning until dark on Tuesday.

"Come early, stay late, why worry. That's our motto," said Jack Sloan, 53, of Slidell. "It's mainly a family party up here. The really rowdy stuff in in the French Quarter."