New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell said earlier this week that the city shouldn't rule out canceling Mardi Gras in 2021 due to safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
The Mayor's statement in a Washington Post forum wasn't a declaration and WW Radio's Mardi Gras historian Arthur Hardy said that while krewes are in a wait-and-see mode "no one is throwing in the towel."
"I think most people in the Mardi Gras community are cautiously optimistic and are saying 'Yeah we're planning to do this now," Hardy said. "We're going to have to see A. Can we? and B. How's it going to look?
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"It might be a little different. But we did it after Katrina and we needed it then and we're going to need it as much, if not more so after this thing."
Hardy said the No. 1 factor that will determine if there is a Mardi Gras in 2021 will be if it's able to be done safely.
"The Mardi Gras community is very resilient and very innovative," he said. "If the health conditions are such that we can do safely, we'll figure out how to do it."
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