Businesses Hope For a Mardi Gras Boost

Connie Clem always throws out her best sales pitch to the crowds of people waiting for parades. She is one of the people who push a cart crammed with souvenirs along mobile parade routes.

“Just be nice to them, they're nice to us we're nice to them,” says Clem, the Owner/Manager of Fun Stuff. What aren't so nice are her sales this season. She says she's down by almost half compared to last year. Parades have been delayed by the rain this year or crowds have been kept small either by bitter cold weather or the Super Bowl. That night only a few thousand people attended. That's hurt restaurants along Dauphin Street like Buck's Pizza.

“But we would have thought, given the circumstances of Mardi Gras and how things are beginning to pick up a little bit more downtown and it just hasn't been as steady as we would have liked,” says Buck’s Pizza Manager Steven Smith. Despite some less than delightful numbers for some businesses downtown, they hope things turn around with Joe Cain Day.

“We're expecting them to, we're probably busier today than at any time since Mardi Gras started,” says Smith. Sunny skies made crowds more robust today for the parades and along Dauphin Street. One bright sector is hotels. The Holiday Inn downtown and Admiral Semmes both report higher room bookings this year.

"Our returning guests, increased interest, we've got people coming from as far away as California," says Maura Garino Holiday Inn. Businesses are preparing for the final leg the Mardi Gras season and hope things continue to pick-up.