In the wake of summer street flooding in 2018, 93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads and assorted throws were fished from drains in a five-block stretch of St. Charles Avenue.

It is the rare individual who can watch the distribution of beads at Mardi Gras and not want some for themselves.” Mardi Gras has been called the “season of madness” in New Orleans.

But the most important moves, in terms of altering Mardi Gras throwing traditions, are starting to happen among the traditional, float-riding, big-throwing krewes.

The Krewe of Freret Mardi Gras has announced it will not permit riders to throw plastic beads in 2025 in “the name of environmental sustainability, community responsibility, and thought leadership,” ...

Cheap plastic beads often end up in landfills and can clog up the city’s 100-year-old drainage system. That’s led to more calls to ditch them altogether.

Before Lent begins, Louisiana’s Catholic communities celebrate Mardi Gras the old-fashioned way — with prayer, music and a feast shared by all.

New Orleans and Mobile dispute where Mardi Gras was birthed, but both Gulf Coast cities struggle with the same plastic waste. Where will a greener Carnival be reborn?

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The Krewe of Freret will stop throwing plastic beads during its parade in 2025. According to a news release, the krewe is working to reduce the environmental impact of Mardi ...

A Mardi Gras overlay has returned to a CityWalk venue, transforming the Red Coconut Club into the Cursed Coconut Club for the season. 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Universal’s Mardi Gras ...

Forget the Mardi Gras Beads. This Year’s Best Catch Is a Cookbook. Of all the gifts thrown at the New Orleans parades, one of the newest and most unusual is a collection of South Asian family ...

So lusted after in the moment, Mardi Gras beads have a cruel afterlife. The lucky ones find a useful purpose long after the parades stop: decorating a fence, maybe, or as an eye-catching art ...