Fat Tuesday: Mardi Gras parade set to step off

February 20, 2012 (NEW ORLEANS) -- As Carnival builds toward its out-of-control crescendo of Fat Tuesday, Barry Kern and his team of float-builders and artists are already preparing for next year's parades.

One of the biggest free parties in the world fuels a multimillion-dollar industry for the city of New Orleans and the lifeblood of businesses like Kern's studio, which has been operating for more than 50 years and makes or repurposes some 400 floats a year, or roughly a float a day, Kern said. The Mardi Gras season, which includes weeks of parades, fancy balls and parties leading up to the big day, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year, said Kelly Schulz, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Schulz said a recent study conducted by Tulane University estimated the direct economic impact of Mardi Gras at roughly $144 million. Some studies estimate the economic impact at more than $500 million, said Arthur Hardy, a Mardi Gras historian.

"There's no way to know for sure because we don't sell tickets," Hardy said. "Mardi Gras started small, in private homes and private balls, and it's evolved into this festival that some estimate produces more than a half-billion dollars a year."Attendance is also hard to gauge, but every Mardi Gras hotels are full, or close to it, Schultz said. "The city will be virtually sold out," Schulz said. "Mardi Gras and music, especially on the international scene, are our big sells."

In the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, more than 100 parades roll into New Orleans and its suburbs. The big parading clubs, like Rex, Zulu, Bacchus, Endymion, Orpheus and Muses, hire Kern's studio to build the floats. Smaller clubs make their own by decorating trailers with everything from paint to crepe paper.

Hardy said more than 100,000 people ride in parades each year, and each rider can spend as much as $2,000 to $3,000 in fees, costumes and throws. Thousands more are spent on king cakes and the grand balls and parties, he said. "It's a money-maker for the city, but that's not why we do it," Hardy said. "We do it because we like to celebrate. It's a free party we give ourselves and our guests."
There's big money in it. Major parade krewes often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have Kern's studio make their floats. Depending on whether the floats are being built from the ground up or repurposed, the price can range anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. Kern declines to say just how much revenue his company takes in annually. But over the years the floats have become larger and more ornate, and more expensive.