Mardi Gras in Jefferson not moral

Two meetings occurred in the last 10 days. The first at Mardi Gras World Assembled city leaders, Krewe captains, the Lieutenant Governor, and the public to discuss whether Mardi Gras 2021 would happen in Orleans Parish. The following Tuesday at the Joseph Yenni building in Elmwood, Jefferson Parish leaders had the same conversation.

Currently, the heads of all of the parading Krewes plan to hit the streets on their appointed days on or prior to February 16, 2021. Mayor LaToya Cantrell has warned, though, that if the coronavirus continues to rage, she is not above canceling Mardi Gras. Cynthia Lee Shang has often followed many of the same directives as Cantrell since March, yet the Jefferson Parish president has not made any definitive statements as to whether the city’s largest suburb would follow suit in closing down Carnival.

This has led to a private whisper campaign that the answer to New Orleans shutting down Mardi Gras is to move to Metairie. A Jefferson Parish representative told the daily paper that “we’ve had some calls from New Orleans parades, but nothing definite,” implying perhaps that some Orleans Parish parades could roll in Jefferson Parish in 2021, if not permitted to do so in the city.

In 1979, a police strike in New Orleans prevented parading within city limits, but seven parading organizations, including the super krewe Endymion, moved their parades to Jefferson Parish for that year.

The shadow over this coming Mardi Gras it’s not a police strike, however. It is the real danger that crowds of people could cause thousands of fatalities. COVID-19 is no respecter of the 17th St. Canal. Absent a vaccine, holding Mardi Gras in Jefferson – while canceling in Orleans – would constitute a highly immoral act – sentencing multitudes to death.

This article originally published in the August 17, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.