With Mardi Gras A Memory, New Orleans Sobers Up

Last updated on: February 22, 2012 at 3:57 pm by

With Mardi Gras A Memory, New Orleans Sobers Up 2012-02-22T15:57:37-07:00

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — By dawn on Wednesday, stately St. Charles Avenue, where tens of thousands spent Mardi Gras feasting, drinking and scrambling for beads, was cleared of mountains of trash left behind by revelers.

New Orleans’ iconic green streetcars again clacked along the tracks, and in the French Quarter stragglers mustered what energy they could as the exodus of visitors began.

Later, churches in the heavily Catholic city filled with the faithful as Ash Wednesday ushered in the season of Lent.

At the international airport, officials reported a steady outflow of visitors, many draped in beads they’d snatched at the stream of parades that reached its peak on Fat Tuesday.

Spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said the trinkets were a headache for TSA security officers but passengers were moving along nicely to waiting aircraft.

Traffic on streets around hotels was backed up Wednesday as cabs picked up departing tourists. Bourbon Street was immaculate with debris removed and streets washed down. It was mostly deserted except for a long line of beer and liquor delivery trucks restocking depleted bars.

In Jackson Square, tarot card readers and artists read books or dozed at their stands outside St. Louis Cathedral. Among the few people who wandered through the area were some with black ash smudges on their foreheads, signs of Lenten repentance.

Colin Tyler, who takes visitors on tours of the French Quarter in his mule-drawn carriage, said the trade during the Carnival season was tremendous.

“It was really great business-wise, but it’s not always easy for us,” Tyler said. “Ninety percent of our customers were drunk.”

With the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament and French Quarter Festival coming soon, he expected a lucrative spring.

Three women from Bonaqua, Tenn., sat at a table at Cafe du Monde eating beignets and sipping coffee with beads around their necks.

Lou Ann Bryan said this wasn’t her first Mardi Gras but her two friends were newbies.

“It’s too wild at our ages,” Bryan said. “We’re all retired.”

Normally about 15,000 passengers fly out of New Orleans on a regular day. Thousands more were expected to go out on Wednesday, airport spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said.

“We’re pushing through a lot of bodies,” Wilcut said. “Some are in better shape than others this morning. It’s a pretty quiet group.”

As party-weary visitors headed home, many recovering locals replaced Fat Tuesday’s merrymaking with the reverence of Ash Wednesday.

It was standing room only at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the business district. As bells chimed, the faithful — many in business attire, suits and high-heel shoes — filed through the doors to receive ashes.

George Cenac, an engineer who works nearby, said Ash Wednesday is a day for reflection and repentance.

“It’s an important thing to do today,” Cenac said. “Catholicism is built into the fabric of this city. It’s who we are.”

Niccole Gordon, who was headed to the airport for her return flight to Chicago, said St. Patrick’s was a welcoming place where she could begin to atone for Fat Tuesday’s excesses.

“After all the fun I had, I definitely needed to come receive ashes and prepare for Lent,” Gordon said.

St. Patrick’s seats about 500 and pews were full during midday Mass. An extra priest and two deacons were brought in to deliver ashes to the hundreds of judges, lawyers, restaurant workers and hotel employees who took time from their workday to go to church.

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