New Orleans' Mardi Gras parades will return to their pre-pandemic starting points, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Monday.
"Making sure that we were able to bring Mardi Gras back and stronger for our 2023 season really began many months ago," the mayor said. "A full compliment relative to our routes will be restored in our city for the 2023 Mardi Gras season."
The mayor said a cooperative endeavor agreement with the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office will make sure the funds are there to pay non-NOPD police officers to come to the city and help cover public safety.
NOPD Interim Superintendent Michelle Woodfork says they got a better response than they expected from other law enforcement agencies.
"We managed to get more than we thought we were going to get to man the parades with us," she said.
NOPD's ranks have dwindled to fewer than 930. The department had around 1,100 for Mardi Gras 2022, and parades rolled on shortened routes then out of concerns cops would be spread too thin.
Restoring dozens of blocks to the parade routes is seen as an important piece of the New Orleans economy, for the businesses along the parade route and the people they employ, said city officials.
A 2014 Tulane University study on the economic impacts of Mardi Gras found it had a total $465 million effect on the New Orleans economy, and while the city incurred $5.9 million in expenses, the tax revenue generated by Carnival-related business totaled $17.6 million.
