NEW ORLEANS — Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other city officials joined representatives from Carnival organizations at Mardi Gras World, 1380 Port of New Orleans Place, at 10:00 a.m., to celebrate Kings Day, which marks the official start of the 2016 Carnival season.
The Carnival season begins on Jan. 6 each year, the "Twelfth Night" after Christmas, and culminates on Mardi Gras day, which falls on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, this year, a final day of celebration before the solemnity of Ash Wednesday and Lent.
The celebration included presentations from Carnival organizations and a ceremonial cutting of a king cake.
Tonight, the countdown to Mardi Gras continues with a streetcar full of raucous costumed revelers, The Phunny Phorty Phellows, who take their annual ride from the transit storage barns in the Carrollton neighborhood, down St. Charles Avenue to Canal Street at the edge of the French Quarter.
The Mardi Gras season is celebrated along the Gulf Coast with parties, balls and parades culminating on Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday.
