New Orleans Caps Mardi Gras Fête

Mardi Gras is one holiday that everyone can celebrate in a big way. Although the date each year is determined by the church calendar, Bacchus rules whenever this event is observed. Carnival is the ultimate excuse to party like there's no tomorrow.

The Mardi Gras festivities keep going until Tuesday night, when the last plastic beads are flung and even the hardiest revelers retire their costumes. Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a day that dawns with eerie calm on an exhausted city. Streets packed just hours before with reeling partyers will be filled with nothing but litter and silence.

Written by Curtis Grisham with graphics by Dana Byerly