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Feb 2023
2023’s Top Mardi Gras Cities
Staff Report
Thursday, February 16th, 2023
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From colorful beads to flashy costumes and immense libations, Mardi Gras is a time for embracing gluttony and glee.
Which cities are best for letting the good times roll on Fat Tuesday?
To find out, Lawn Love ranked 2023’s Top Mardi Gras Cities.
To come up with our ranking, we compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities by the number of Mardi Gras events, Cajun food vendors, costume stores, and community interest, among eight total metrics.
Check out the 10 best (and 10 worst) cities for celebrating Mardi Gras below, followed by key insights from our report. (See where your city ranks.)
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Best Cities for Mardi Gras
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Rank
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City
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1
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New Orleans, LA
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2
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New York, NY
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3
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Las Vegas, NV
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4
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Los Angeles, CA
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5
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Houston, TX
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6
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Miami, FL
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7
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Chicago, IL
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8
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San Francisco, CA
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9
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St. Louis, MO
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| 10 |
San Diego, CA |
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Worst Cities for Mardi Gras
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Rank
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City
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1
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Thornton, CO
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2
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Surprise, AZ
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3
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Columbus, GA
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4
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West Valley City, UT
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5
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Chesapeake, VA
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6
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Anchorage, AK
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7
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Macon, GA
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8
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Olathe, KS
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9
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Peoria, AZ
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10
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Kansas City, KS
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Key insights:
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Crown of Carnival: It’s no secret that New Orleans is the top Mardi Gras city in the U.S. The Big Easy champions a 16-point lead ahead of the next-best city, New York.
NOLA is the monarch of Mardi Gras, with the most Carnival events and festivals — over 100 more than in St. Louis (No. 2 in that metric). NOLA also shines with numerous costume stores and nightlife options to party the night away.
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Parading through history: St. Louis (No. 9) and Mobile, Alabama (No. 32), each have their own intricate festivities and histories surrounding the holiday.
St. Louis paraded to the top of our ranking with the second-highest number of events. STL also has abundant nightlife options per square mile, making it easy to stumble from bar to bar.
Mobile boasts the third-highest number of events and plenty of Cajun food vendors to fill up before heading to the parades to catch MoonPies and doubloons.
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West Coast Krewes: Fat Tuesday fêtes have found popularity in cities out west. Las Vegas (No. 3) takes the king cake for the highest Community Interest. Sin City also offers plenty of costume shops if you want to get dressed up before hitting up one of the many nightlife options or Mardi Gras events.
Both San Diego (No. 10) and Los Angeles (No. 4) floated to the top, thanks to numerous events, party supplies, costume stores, and metaphysical stores.
Our full ranking is available here: https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-cities-mardi-gras
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