FILE- In this Feb. 12, 2015, file photo, the Mystic Stripers Society para...
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FILE- In this Feb. 12, 2015, file photo, the Mystic
Stripers Society parade rolls along during Mardi Gras in downtown
Mobile, Ala. Alabama’s state tourism agency has purchased 10 billboards
around New Orleans and southern Mississippi to promote the Carnival
season in Mobile, director Lee Sentell said Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. The
pre-Lenten celebration was first held in Mobile in 1703, or 15 years
before New Orleans was established along the Mississippi River. (Mike
Kittrell/AL.com via AP)
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Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS
Alabama made news with its good-natured dig at New Orleans — billboards touting Mobile as the home of America’s original Mardi Gras celebration.
The billboards near New Orleans and in south Mississippi tell motorists how close they are to “America’s original Mardi Gras.”
On Thursday, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu responded.
“That was then and this is now,” Landrieu told a laughing crowd before cutting the ribbon at a renovated historic courthouse.
Asked if he was conceding Mobile’s claim to be first, Landrieu laughed and said it’s irrelevant, since “There’s only one great Mardi Gras in the world.”
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Jack Spittler III waits as his costume is adjusted before
the start of the Little Rascals Mardi Gras Ball in Kenner, La.,
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018. The weeks-long celebration leading up to Fat
Tuesday is often perceived as an adults-only holiday in the French
Quarter’s famed Bourbon Street festivities. But elsewhere, children and
families are as much a part of the revelry as anyone. (AP Photo/Gerald
Herbert)
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Mardi Gras falls on Feb. 13 this year. In New Orleans, the Mardi Gras season is kicking into high gear with the first of the city’s major parades set for Friday night.
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