NEW ORLEANS – During last year's Carnival season, tourists at the Elysian Fields Inn gathered over breakfast to talk about parades from the night before.
At NOLA Art Bar, they sipped cocktails and watched a parade go by. At Kajun's Pub, many revelers started and ended Fat Tuesday in the bar.
Not this year. COVID-19 is tamping down the joy — and the revenue — associated with Carnival season in New Orleans. Parades that normally draw thousands in the weeks before Fat Tuesday — which falls on Feb.
16 this year — have been canceled. In this city where music, food and cultural celebrations are interlocking blocks of the hospitality industry, bars and restaurants that usually overflow with free-spending customers are closed or operating at