At a press conference this morning, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced that Mardi Gras parades will roll as scheduled for the 2022 Carnival season and though all krewes will remain in their traditional neighborhoods, several routes will be shortened due to a lack of safety personnel. In 2021, all parades were canceled due to a spike in coronavirus infections.

Parade alterations include the following:

Endymion will remain on its original route through Mid-City on Saturday, February 26, with some modifications. As the parade approaches the Central Business District, floats will turn right off Canal Street at Elk Place and proceed onto Loyola Avenue past City Hall with a right turn onto Girod Street toward the Superdome. As a result, the parade will not pass in front of Gallier Hall on St. Charles Avenue. The city will erect a temporary viewing stand to allow for the traditional toast between the krewe captain and the mayor. The parade will not pass by the French Quarter adjacent to the core of Canal Street’s commercial area or Lee Circle.

Zulu will remain on its original route for Mardi Gras morning, March 1, starting at Jackson Avenue and S. Claiborne Avenue with a detour near the end of the route that was made in 2020 to accommodate the site of the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel.

Rex will start on Napoleon Avenue and Carondelet Street on Mardi Gras morning instead of S. Claiborne Avenue and Napoleon Avenue.

All Uptown parades that traditionally start on the river side of Napoleon Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Magazine Street, Tchoupitoulas and Henry Clay Street will now begin at Napoleon Avenue and Prytania Street. The parade most affected by this route change is the Krewe of Toth which traditionally starts at State Street and Tchoupitoulas Avenue.

Parades that traditionally start on Napoleon Avenue and S. Saratoga Street will now begin at Napoleon Avenue and Carondelet Street.

On the West bank in Algiers, parades that begin at Holiday Drive and Fiesta Street will now start at Wall Boulevard and Holiday Drive.

Smaller neighborhood parades such as Chewbacchus on Saturday, February 5, and Krewe du Vieux and krewedelusion on Saturday, February 12, are unaffected by any changes.

All krewes will roll on their standard days and all have agreed to abide by COVID-19 mandates. Cantrell did note that a few may cancel in 2022 due to financial issues, notably the Krewe of Oshun which has not issued a statement.

“All of these changes are being made to maximize public safety to leverage all of our public safety assets every step of the way,” Cantrell said. 

Cantrell and Police Chief Shaun Ferguson stressed that the route changes are temporary and that every year going forward the city can reassess its capacity for maintaining safety.

If that traditional spot that you’re used to being on … has changed this year, just know that we will consider that again coming for 2023 and future parade years to come,” Ferguson said. “But we must be real with what we have right now and work with the capacity in which we can to make sure that the city is safe.” 

The announcement comes at a time when the Omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading rapidly as a fifth wave of the pandemic. Cantrell was asked if the spike in infections is of concern related to an event that draws more than a million visitors to the city.

“If things go wrong in our city, I will have to make decisions as I’ve made in the past,” Cantrell said. “However, they will not be hasty as they have not been in the past.” 

For more information about Mardi Gras in New Orleans, visit here.