Friday, February 20, 2015

Mardi Gras AAR

We survived another Mardi Gras. It's been a slow week at the office. Most schools have the week off and families take advantage of it to either go skiing or to visit Orlando. If you want to go to Orlando, don't schedule it for Mardi Gras week as the place will be full of New Orleans escapees.

Trash is a key indicator of a good Mardi Gras. The city used to publish statistics about the amount of trash generated. It's typically about 150 tons total  or 5 -10 tons every day. By contrast, NYC only generates about 30 tons for New Years Eve. The city hired about 150 temporary workers to help pick it all up. And the city did an excellent job. By the next day, you would not know that a parade had passed by except for the hundreds of beads caught in the trees lining the route.

Despite the extra city services required for garbage and police, Mardi Gras this year was estimated to have a direct economic impact of $145 million to the city. Not to bad for the Greatest Free Show on earth.

1 comment:

Old NFO said...

And I had to miss it again... sigh