Are we actually trying to learn how to do Mardi Gras again?

There are some signs lately that sensible ideas are afoot.  Last week we learned that the Krewe of Alla would be moving from the overloaded first Sunday over to the first Friday after Oshun and Cleopatra.  That makes a lot of sense for a couple of reasons, the first being the fact that the long Sunday is too long. The second reason is Alla isn't all that great a parade.  I mean, it's fine and all but it probably plays better on the first night when people aren't expecting to be impressed as much.

I'd go in for the regular harangue here about Alla belong back in its own dang neighborhood on the West Bank anyway. But I don't want to ruin the vibe created by this.

More than 100 members of the Krewe of Nefertiti paraded as a subkrewe of the Krewe of Freret in 2019, but the group will present its own full Carnival parade in New Orleans East Feb. 9, 2020.

The krewe expects to have more than 200 riders on more than 15 floats, says krewe captain Zenia Smith. Its route will go from Bullard Avenue and Lake Forest Boulevard to Read Boulevard and end at Joe Brown Park.

"Lots of kids from the area have marched in parades in Uptown and on the West Bank," Smith says. "This will give a lot of families the chance to see the kids in a parade in their neighborhood."

That's pretty great. Although it says here they're rolling on Feb 9 which puts it a week early in the schedule. This would be the day after Krewe Du Vieux.  Either way it's great to get parades back out in the neighborhoods. But one of the reasons we've been asking for that is so that people who might otherwise overcrowd the Uptown route have somewhere else to go.  Putting Nefertiti on its own unique date doesn't help with that.  Maybe next time, though.