To Everyone Who Comes Here to Love Our City

Please don’t listen to outsiders who tell you Mardi Gras is all about getting into fights, peeing in public, and smoking weed.

Will you see those things?
Maybe.
But that’s not what this is about.

______________________________________

💜 Mardi Gras is 80% Family-Friendly

It’s the biggest free party in the world, and all are welcome—kids, elders, first-timers, seasoned pros, everyone. It’s joyful. It’s generous. It’s uniquely New Orleans.

And honestly? From a local’s perspective, the crude behavior?
Almost always tourists.

______________________________________

Here’s What Locals Do:

• We buy bathroom passes ahead of time.
  
  

• We plan parking—a mile away, if needed—and we walk.
  
  

• We tip like crazy.
  
  

• We bring our own food so we’re not clogging up lines.
  
  

• We pick up our trash—and yours, if needed.
  
  

• We don’t shove to the front of the barricade.
  
  

• We make friends with our parade neighbors.
  
  

This celebration has a rhythm, and when you tune in with love and respect, you become part of something truly magical.

______________________________________

👀 So When Someone Tells You…

“Just treat the city like a dive bar alley” or
“Mardi Gras is just drunk chaos”

Pause.
Check that person’s profile.
Are they from here?
Like, actually living here?

If not—and they’re trashing our beloved city?
It’s okay to block them.
Just two buttons and poof—no more negativity. Protect your joy.

______________________________________

💬 And If You’re One of the People Posting That Kind of Nonsense…

Let me ask you this: Why?

You’ve confused wit with cynicism.
You’re better than that. I’m not calling you out—I’m calling you in.

Be the kind of person who nurtures this extended New Orleans family. You love this city enough to be in this space, reading these words—so honor that. Encourage visitors to behave the way you’d want guests to behave in your hometown.

Because for 400,000 of us, this is our hometown.
It’s not a backdrop for your misbehavior. It’s our home.

______________________________________

🫶 You Are Welcome Here

Bring your manners, your kindness, and your love—and you’ll leave with memories of a lifetime.

______________________________________

📸 To follow more of my work as a local guide and storyteller, come hang out on Instagram:
@nawlins_crawlins