{"id":15558,"date":"2023-02-14T19:04:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T19:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/?p=15558"},"modified":"2024-12-15T07:23:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T07:23:03","slug":"best-cities-mardi-gras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/best-cities-mardi-gras\/","title":{"rendered":"2023&#8217;s Top Mardi Gras Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From colorful beads to flashy costumes and immense libations, Mardi Gras is a time for embracing gluttony and glee.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to New Orleans, which cities are best for letting the good times roll on Fat Tuesday?<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To find out, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawnlove.com\/\">Lawn Love<\/a> ranked 2023\u2019s Top Mardi Gras Cities.<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities by the number of Mardi Gras events, Cajun food vendors, costume stores, and community interest, among eight total metrics.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use our rankings to find the best city to let loose ahead of Fat Tuesday on Feb. 21.&nbsp;<\/p>    <h2 id=\"in-this-article\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">In this article<\/h2>    <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"#rankings\">City rankings<\/a><\/li>    <li><a href=\"#key-insights\">The upshot<\/a><\/li>    <li><a href=\"#methodology\">Behind the ranking<\/a><\/li>    <li><a href=\"#final-thoughts\">Final thoughts: Smaller standouts<\/a><\/li> <\/ul>    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"rankings\"><span id=\"city-rankings\">City rankings&nbsp;<\/span><\/h2>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See how each city fared in our ranking:<\/p>   <div class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"b2edcd0d-48e9-47bd-a327-66e14df9124f\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Ranking Table - 2023&amp;#39;s Top Mardi Gras Cities\"><\/div> <p><script>!function(e,i,n,s){var t=\"InfogramEmbeds\",d=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement(\"script\");o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed-loader-min.js\",d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\");<\/script><\/p>    <figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"1653\" src=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1.png\" alt=\"Infographic showing 2023\u2019s Top Mardi Gras Cities, a ranking based on entertainment, access to Cajun food and bakeries, party supplies, and community interest\" class=\"wp-image-15587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1.png 800w, https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1-145x300.png 145w, https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1-496x1024.png 496w, https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1-768x1587.png 768w, https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1-743x1536.png 743w, https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2023s-Top-Mardi-Gras-Cities1-1-610x1260.png 610w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-insights\"><span id=\"the-upshot\">The upshot<\/span><\/h2>    <h3 id=\"crown-of-carnival\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Crown of Carnival<\/h3>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s no secret that New Orleans is the top Mardi Gras city in the U.S.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Big Easy champions a 16-point lead ahead of the next-best city, New York. The f\u00eate has already started in New Orleans, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mardigrasneworleans.com\/parades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parades<\/a> run through the city for weeks ahead of Fat Tuesday. NOLA is the monarch of Mardi Gras, with the most Carnival events and festivals \u2014 over 100 more than in St. Louis (No. 2 in that metric). NOLA also shines with numerous costume stores and nightlife options to party the night away.<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Orleans also boils over with the most Cajun food vendors per square mile, followed by another Bayou State city, Baton Rouge (No. 15). Baton Rouge offers its own spectacular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitbatonrouge.com\/events\/mardi-gras\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">festivities<\/a>, too.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>    <h3 id=\"parading-through-history\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Parading through history<\/h3>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Orleans isn\u2019t the only iconic Carnival city in America. St. Louis (No. 9) and Mobile, Alabama (No. 32), each have their own intricate festivities and histories surrounding the holiday.<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With celebrations going back to 1703, Mobile is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobile.org\/events\/mardi-gras\/#:~:text=that-,Mobile%20is%20the%20birthplace%20of%20America%27s%20original%20Mardi%20Gras,-%3F%20That%27s%20right%2C%20Mardi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">birthplace of Mardi Gras<\/a> in America. The Gateway to the Gulf boasts the third-highest number of events and plenty of Cajun food vendors to fill up before heading to the parades to catch MoonPies and doubloons.<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest party in St. Louis takes place in a neighborhood called <a href=\"https:\/\/stlmardigras.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Soulard<\/a> \u2014 a French name that fittingly translates to \u201cdrunkard.\u201d Even though the Gateway City\u2019s Mardi Gras began more recently in 1979, this city paraded to the top of our ranking with the second-highest number of events. STL also has abundant nightlife options per square mile, making it easy to stumble from bar to bar.<\/p>    <h3 id=\"west-coast-krewes\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">West Coast Krewes<\/h3>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fat Tuesday f\u00eates have found popularity in cities out west.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Las Vegas (No. 3) loves to party and takes the king cake for the highest Community Interest. While the only parade you might encounter are people parading through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegashowto.com\/mardi-gras-in-las-vegas#:~:text=Mardi%20Gras%20at%20The%20Orleans%20Hotel%20and%20Casino\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">casino<\/a>, Sin City offers plenty of costume shops if you want to get dressed up before hitting up one of the many nightlife options or Mardi Gras events.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let the good times roll in sunny San Diego (No. 10), which hosts three days of eating, drinking, and dancing in the historic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaslamp.org\/news\/events\/2023-gaslamp-mardi-gras\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gaslamp Quarter<\/a>. Both San Diego and Los Angeles (No. 4) floated to the top, thanks to numerous events, party supplies, costume stores, and metaphysical stores.&nbsp;<\/p>    <h3 id=\"flat-tuesday-cities\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Flat Tuesday cities<\/h3>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A variety of smaller cities and suburbs landed at the bottom of our ranking. These include Chesapeake, Virginia (No. 196), West Valley City, Utah (No. 197), Columbus, Georgia (No. 198), and Surprise, Arizona (No. 199), along with Thornton, Colorado, in last place.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These cities fall flat with low scores across the board, including little interest in the holiday. If you\u2019re lucky, you might encounter a Mardi Gras-themed happy hour at a local dive in one of these cities. Otherwise, it might be best to have a ball <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/mardi-gras-party-ideas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">at home<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"methodology\"><span id=\"behind-the-ranking\">Behind the ranking<\/span><\/h2>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For each of the 200 biggest U.S. cities, we gathered publicly available data on the factors listed in the table below.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We then grouped those factors into four categories: Entertainment, Food, Party Supplies, and Community Interest.<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next, we calculated weighted scores for each city in each category.&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, we averaged the scores for each city across all categories.<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The city that earned the highest average score was ranked \u201cBest\u201d (No. 1), while the city with the lowest was ranked \u201cWorst\u201d (No. 200).&nbsp;<\/p>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notes:&nbsp;<\/p>    <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>The \u201cWorst\u201d among individual factors may not be 200 due to ties among cities.<\/li>    <li>This ranking includes the largest 200 cities in the U.S. and therefore excludes smaller iconic Mardi Gras destinations, such as:<br> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>Biloxi, Mississippi<\/li>    <li>Galveston, Texas<\/li>    <li>Lafayette, Louisiana<\/li>    <li>Lake Charles, Louisiana<\/li>    <li>Pensacola, Florida<\/li>    <li><em>See slideshow below for more info about festivities occurring in the above cities<\/em><\/li> <\/ul> <\/li> <\/ul>   <div class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"45adf001-e08f-48c5-958c-5669e40b25ee\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Methodology Table - 2023&amp;#39;s Top Mardi Gras Cities\"><\/div> <p><script>!function(e,i,n,s){var t=\"InfogramEmbeds\",d=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement(\"script\");o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed-loader-min.js\",d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\");<\/script><\/p>    <h3 id=\"sources\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h3>    <p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Allevents.in, Gemstone Well, Google Ads, Tripadvisor, and Yelp<\/em><\/p>    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"final-thoughts\"><span id=\"final-thoughts-smaller-standouts\">Final thoughts: Smaller standouts<\/span><\/h2>    <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our ranking covers the country\u2019s largest cities, but there are some smaller cities that deserve a shoutout for hosting special Mardi Gras celebrations. Check out the slideshow below to learn more.<\/p>   <div style=\"min-height: 535px\" class=\"ub_image_slider swiper-container wp-block-ub-image-slider\" id=\"ub_image_slider_f920dc6c-47dd-4374-a942-56e7d2ea17f3\" data-swiper-data='{\"speed\":300,\"spaceBetween\":20,\"slidesPerView\":1,\"loop\":true,\"pagination\":{\"el\": \".swiper-pagination\" , \"type\": \"bullets\", \"clickable\":true},\"navigation\": {\"nextEl\": \".swiper-button-next\", \"prevEl\": \".swiper-button-prev\"}, \"keyboard\": { \"enabled\": true }, \"effect\": \"slide\",\"simulateTouch\":false}'>             <div class=\"swiper-wrapper\"><figure class=\"swiper-slide\">                 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lafayette.jpg\" alt=\"lafayette skyline\" style=\"height: 500px;; \">                 <figcaption class=\"ub_image_slider_image_caption\"><strong>Lafayette, Louisiana: <\/strong>This small city has been partying for Fat Tuesday since <a href=\"https:\/\/gomardigras.com\/history.html#:~:text=1869%3A%20First%20recorded%20Mardi%20Gras%20observance%20in%20Lafayette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1869<\/a>. The celebrations feature four days of <a href=\"https:\/\/gomardigras.com\/parades.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parades<\/a> with more than 20 Krewes, a free City Ball, and plenty of live music and Cajun food.<br><br>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Mardi_Gras_Lafayette_(Louisiana)_-_13_Feb._2018.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mobilus in Mobili<\/a> | Wikimedia Commons | <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a><\/figcaption>             <\/figure><figure class=\"swiper-slide\">                 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Galveston.jpeg\" alt=\"A front porch is decorated with a Mardi Gras-themed garland and gold and green mask\" style=\"height: 500px;; \">                 <figcaption class=\"ub_image_slider_image_caption\"><strong>Galveston, Texas: <\/strong>Over the course of two parade-filled weekends, Krewes will throw more than 3 million beads at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mardigrasgalveston.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mardi Gras! Galveston<\/a>. Oleander City is home to its own Shrove Tuesday customs, including parades that feature zany <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mardigrasgalveston.com\/product\/golf-cart-parade-registration\/\">golf carts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mardigrasgalveston.com\/product-category\/jeep-parade-registrations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jeeps<\/a>, and embellished <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mardigrasgalveston.com\/umbrella-brigade-registration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">umbrellas<\/a>.<br><br>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Mardi_Gras_decorations_in_Galveston_Texas_2015_07.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tara Schmidt<\/a> | Wikimedia Commons | <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/figcaption>             <\/figure><figure class=\"swiper-slide\">                 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Biloxi.jpg\" alt=\"A big bowl is filled with Cajun-style crawfish, featuring lemons and a potato spud\" style=\"height: 500px;; \">                 <figcaption class=\"ub_image_slider_image_caption\"><strong>Biloxi, Mississippi:<\/strong> Gobble down Gulf Coast specialties at one of the city\u2019s top <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yelp.com\/search?cflt=cajun&amp;find_loc=Biloxi%2C+MS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cajun<\/a> restaurants. From parades to crawfish boils to a coronation ball, Biloxi\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gulfcoast.org\/events\/mardi-gras-events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Carnival<\/a> has it all. Learn more about the celebration\u2019s history at the <a href=\"https:\/\/coastalmardigras.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Coastal Mississippi Mardi Gras Museum<\/a>.<br><br>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/bpprice\/33455789408\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brando<\/a> | Flickr | <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/figcaption>             <\/figure><figure class=\"swiper-slide\">                 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lake-Charles.jpeg\" alt=\"Crowds cheer on as a large float parades along downtown Lake Charles\" style=\"height: 500px;; \">                 <figcaption class=\"ub_image_slider_image_caption\"><strong>Lake Charles, Louisiana: <\/strong>Fill up on king cake, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitlakecharles.org\/food-drink\/cajun-creole\/swla-boudin-trail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">boudin<\/a>, and gumbo at the family-friendly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitlakecharles.org\/swlamardigras\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras<\/a>. While the <a href=\"https:\/\/mardi-gras-museum-of-imperial-calcasieu.business.site\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu<\/a> continues to undergo repairs from hurricane damage, you can go to the <a href=\"https:\/\/imperialcalcasieumuseum.org\/exhibits-events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Imperial Calcasieu Museum<\/a> to learn about the black history of Mardi Gras until the exhibit ends on March 4.<br><br>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Mardigraslc.JPG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kingfish27<\/a> | Wikimedia Commons | <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a><\/figcaption>             <\/figure><figure class=\"swiper-slide\">                 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Pensacola.jpg\" alt=\"pensacola skyline\" style=\"height: 500px;; \">                 <figcaption class=\"ub_image_slider_image_caption\"><strong>Pensacola, Florida: <\/strong>Colorful Pensacola has been parading around for Carnival since 1874. <a href=\"https:\/\/pensacolamardigras.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pensacola Mardi Gras<\/a> is a family-friendly event featuring three full weekends of <a href=\"https:\/\/pensacolamardigras.com\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">events<\/a>, including a crawfish boil, bingo, and plenty of dancing.<br><br>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/art-festival-party-decoration-15498523\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Domenico Bandiera<\/a> | Pexels<\/figcaption>             <\/figure><\/div>             <div class=\"swiper-pagination\"><\/div>             <div class=\"swiper-button-prev\"><\/div> <div class=\"swiper-button-next\"><\/div>         <\/div>   <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Spring is on the horizon, so you might soon join the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mardigrasneworleans.com\/parades\/krewe-of-push-mow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Krewe of Push Mow<\/em><\/a><em> and bring your lawn mower out for a spin. If you\u2019re too busy dancing the day away, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/\"><em>hire a local Lawn Love crew<\/em><\/a><em> to check off your lawn care to-do list.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>    <p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Main photo credit: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.istockphoto.com\/photo\/the-parade-new-orleans-mardi-gras-gm645373494-117003355\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iStock<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From colorful beads to flashy costumes and immense libations, Mardi Gras is a time for embracing gluttony and glee.&nbsp; In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-studies"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/iStock-645373494NEW-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Sav Maive","author_link":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/author\/sav-maive\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}