Fat Tuesday in New Orleans: floats, masks, trinkets and more

NEW ORLEANS — Dressed in elaborate costumes, dancing to the beat of brass bands and clamoring for beads from passing floats, thousands of people gathered in the streets of New Orleans to mark the culmination of the famous Mardi Gras celebration Tuesday.

The last day of parades rolled along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street, float riders throwing beads to bystanders as revelers in other parts of the city like the French Quarter and the Marigny partied in the streets in elaborate costumes.

The festivities come to an end at the stroke of midnight, when a wedge of mounted police officers rides down Bourbon to clear it of revelers and declare the party over.

Families lined up early along the side of the streets or on the median — called the neutral ground in New Orleans — to get a good seat, often bringing ladders with specially designed seats on top for kids to sit in and catch beads.

Naomi Shows, from Covington, La., came to the French Quarter with her three children, their black-and-white faces painted like skeletons inspired by Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead: It’s been a tradition here for so long.