With Mardi Gras Parades Canceled, Floats Find a New Home

Krewe of Red Beans has been providing meals to frontline workers and finding work for jobless artists. It says it has raised nearly $300,000 and created nearly 50 jobs so far for one of its programs, Hire a Mardi Gras Artist.

“It’s so New Orleans to take a bad situation and turn into a positive,” said Kelli Starrett, who had Mr. Píerre install a float at her home. “We’re not going to have parade? OK, we’ll decorate houses, and we’ll find a way to employ artists and raise money for charity. This speaks to the resiliency of the people in the city.”

This year’s floats won’t all be celebratory. Some will pay tribute to members of the Mardi Gras Indians, known for their elaborate hand-sewn suits, who have died. The community is Black, and its traditions are rooted in African culture.

As it did in other parts of the country, the virus battered Black households in New Orleans, and Black patients accounted for over three-quarters of those hospitalized around the city with Covid-19 last spring.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/business/new-orleans-float-artists-mardi-gras.html