Mardi Gras: Up Close And Personal

Deep Inside New Orleans, The Early Show Finds The City's Pulse

(CBS)  For the people of New Orleans, this Mardi Gras is an opportunity to show the world their spirit and determination after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

But in spite of the city's best efforts, there is still much work to be done and entire neighborhoods are still in ruins. The Early Show's Dave Price is in New Orleans and reported from the start of the Zulu parade Tuesday morning.

That brought him to one of the city's hard-hit areas, the uptown neighborhood where floodwaters once reached as high as four feet. He was joined by Damon Batiste, New Orleans' cultural ambassador to South Africa, who explained the importance of including Zulus in the Mardi Gras celebrations.

"This is a very historic time for the city of New Orleans," he said. "The representation of the true African culture on the streets of New Orleans this Mardi Gras is to let folks know in Dallas, Atlanta — let people know New Orleans must come back and African culture is a very important part of New Orleans tourism."

Price also paid a visit to the Superdome, which became a symbol of all that went wrong during the Katrina relief efforts. Thousands of evacuees packed the facility, which was itself left in ruins by the hurricane.

Six months later, with $150 million worth of damage at the Superdome, Price found that much of the structure will have to be rebuilt and that repairs on the roof are now just beginning.

But Bill Curl, a Superdome spokesman, says the rebuilt arena will have huge meaning for the city of New Orleans.

"It's another indication that New Orleans is not only coming back it's determined to come back," he told Price. "It's going to bring back visitors, it's going to entertain people. The Saints' fans want to get back in here. The times are coming back. We started with Mardi Gras, we'll carry it on through Jazz Fest and when the Superdome opens that'll be the third slice of a very big pie."

And speaking of pie, co-anchor Rene Syler uncovered a bakery that has been working day and night to supply New Orleans with one of its traditional Mardi Gras goodies. They're known as king cakes, braided cakes adorned with purple, gold and green sugar — the colors of Mardi Gras — baked right in. Every king cake has a plastic baby inside, symbolizing the baby Jesus.

Randazzo's Bakery in Slidell, La., was nearly destroyed by Katrina, but has come back to carry on this tradition. Its owner, Tricia Zornes, said there simply could not be a true Mardi Gras without her special creations.

"They're synonymous," she told Syler. "You can't have Mardi Gras without parades and king cakes."

Randazzo's rose from the ruins, with the help of employees, family and friends, to be back in business in time for Mardi Gras and has been sending off shipments across the United States, many of them to people dislocated by Katrina.

"We get calls all the time saying, 'We're from New Orleans and we want a little bit of home, please send us a king cake,' " said Zornes.