New Orleans
Tourists and locals celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans this week, as the city struggled to recover six months after Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 350,000 visitors flocked to the city’s famous French Quarter, where as many as 1 million normally attend the traditional Carnival season festivities. Some displaced residents criticized the decision to hold the celebration so soon after 80 percent of the city was flooded and two-thirds of its residents forced to flee. Others hit Bourbon Street draped in blue tarps, mimicking the ones that cover the roofs shattered in the storm, and called the celebration a welcome first step toward recovery. New Orleans, said resident Stephanie Hall, 28, is “going to come back whether the country wants it to or not.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
