AP
Michelle Levine of New Orleans dances her way through the streets of New Orleans during the Mardi Gras celebration Feb. 8, 2005.
AP
Joe Perez of Miami begins his march through the streets of the Crescent City during the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans Feb. 8, 2005.
AP
Greg Rubin of Pete Fountain's Half Fast Marching club gives out roses at the start of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans Feb. 8, 2005. Fountain's marching club started the day-long celebration in the streets of New Orleans.
AP
Roshaun and Monique Gilmore, right, catch beads as Pete Fountain's Half Fast Marching Club passes by during the Mardi Gras Celebration in New Orleans Feb. 8, 2005. The Gilmores staked out a spot along the parade route early to have a front-row seat for the day-long processions of parades and did not even have to get up to catch Mardi Gras beads.
AP
Pink Princess Amelia Gerstung looks for the parade at the start of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans Feb. 8, 2005. Gerstung, like many other carnival revelers, got up early to get front-row seats for the parades.
AP
Riders in the Krewe of Iris float throw beads to a crowd in New Orleans, Feb. 5, 2005. The parade was part of the city's Carnival season, a heavy tourist draw that peaks with Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday," Feb. 8, 2004.
AP
Actress Marisa Tomei, right, Grand Marshall of the Endymion parade, waits for a carriage ride through the French Quarter in New Orleans, Feb. 4, 2005. Along for the ride with Tomei were Thom Filicia, left, of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," and "Sex and the City" star Willie Garson, center.
AP
A Mardi Gras reveler dressed as a wizard walks through thick fog in Jackson Square in New Orleans, Feb. 24, 2004.
AP
Christopher Richardson, left, lets Ja'Nell Cody, center, of Atlanta, take a turn playing his washboard on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Feb. 4, 2005.
AP/U.S. Coast Guard
In a photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a boat crew from Coast Guard Station New Orleans patrols the Mississippi River during Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) festivities Feb. 7, 2005, in New Orleans. The Coast Guard was responsible for transporting the king and queen of the Rex and Zulu krewes by boat in order to kick off the Lundi Gras celebration leading up to Tuesday's Mardi Gras blowout.
AP/U.S. Coast Guard
Sean Kevany, a detective with the New Orleans Police Department, observes the crowds gathered to watch a Mardi Gras parade in Lee Circle, Feb. 5, 2005, in New Orleans. Kevany rides with an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans every year in an effort to reduce crime during Mardi Gras.
