There will be a Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 2006. So says Arthur Hardy, who for 30 years has published the annual Mardi Gras Guide magazine. Only four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, Hardy predicted in an Associated Press interview that New Orleans would use the celebration as a catalyst for the city's recovery. "Just as the start of the Saints NFL season lifted the spirits of its citizens in September, so will Mardi Gras spread joy to visitors and locals early next year."


The 2006 celebration was already primed to be special since it marks the 150th anniversary of the first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. "It will be smaller than usual and different in some ways, but it will continue. We are survivors," Hardy said from Hammond, Louisiana, where he has temporarily relocated his office, a clearing house of Mardi Gras information.


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