NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A low-key Mardi Gras celebration reached its climax Tuesday night in New Orleans.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the crowds in the Big Easy were smaller, The New York Times reported. The celebration seemed to be more of a family one, with many of the out-of-town visitors New Orleans turning out to be city residents displaced by Katrina.
"We said, 'We'll come back and try to enjoy it,'" Larry Chaney told the Times. "For tourists, it's different. They don't know exactly what took place here."
Chaney, his wife Quimonder and their children drove from Roswell, Ga., for Mardi Gras.
Plans for the final day included a pause at 12:30 p.m. marked by tolling church bells. Katrina made landfall at about 12:30p.m. on August 29.
About 300,000 visitors are in the city for the festivities, about one-third of the usual number.
Floats in the various parades leading up to Tuesday's conclusion featured dark reminders of the storm, including one whose theme was "Drove My Chevy to the Levee, but the Levee Was Gone," The Washington Post reported.
