Footage from the USA TODAY's livestream shows a vibrant and cheering crowd in New Orleans catching beads from the floats. These photos capture the essence of the 2025 Mardi Gras celebration.

For 40 days every spring, Christians observe the season of repentance and fasting known as Lent. In New Orleans, the change from Mardi Gras to Lent is striking.

Verizon Frontline used drones to support New Orleans Police during Mardi Gras, enhancing safety and situational awareness.

Livvy Dunne is the — unofficial — queen of Mardi Gras. On Sunday ... Endymion Parade on March 1, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Skip Bolen/Getty Images "Earned my beads!" ...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The good times and parades still rolled in New Orleans for Mardi Gras Day celebrations early Tuesday, ahead of expected severe winds, thunderstorms and tornado warnings in the ...

New Orleans moved up its two biggest Mardi Gras Day parades and cut down their routes to try to avoid the potentially destructive weather. Police were also expected to keep the hundreds of ...

By 2005 the Zulu parades were premiere Mardi Gras events with lavish ... to subvert racist images, and to participate in civic culture. Given New Orleans's extraordinarily complicated racial ...