So what is the meaning behind the beads at Mardi Gras? Here's what we know about why the beads were incorporated into this celebration and why the festival was created to begin with. Here's the ...

Mardi Gras can make a lot of trash, adding up to millions of pounds each year. Now, some parades in New Orleans are cutting down on their environmental footprint by banning plastic beads.

With over 20 different parades, Mardi Gras Galveston fun starts on Friday, February 21 and runs to Fat Tuesday, March 4, 2025. In total, over 3 million beads will be thrown to paradegoers along ...

Everything from eye masks to those colorful beads to the krewes of New Orleans putting on parades all holds this cultural significance. The history behind Mardi Gras is fascinating but doesn't ...

City workers in Mobile, Ala. shovel pounds of Mardi Gras beads into the back of a truck. This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. MOBILE, Ala. — The trees tell the tale.

If you've ever been to a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, then you're probably familiar with the sea of unwanted beads, flashing toys and plastic packaging left in the wake of the last float to ...

Beads in traditional Mardi Gras colors decorate floats in the Bastrop Mardi Gras Parade, Feb. 1, 2025. The second annual parade is part of the city's Mardi Gras festival- a cultural exchange with ...

"The waste is becoming a defining characteristic of this event," said Brett Davis, a New Orleans native who grew up catching beads at Mardi Gras parades. He now heads a nonprofit that works to ...

The streets speak, too. As the good times roll at Mardi Gras, float by float, the throws filter through the crowd to the roads and sidewalks below—beads, trinkets, and Moon Pies—covering the ...

Barefoot Mardi Gras is one of Padre Island's biggest fundraising events of the year—and it's back in full swing! It will be held on Saturday, March 1, 2025, and it is a free, family-friendly ...

There are ways to recycle the cheap, plastic beads that have become synonymous with Mardi Gras, but many end up in landfills. They also clog up the city’s 100-year-old drainage system.

By Sara Bonisteel They throw lots of things at the Carnival parades in New Orleans: plastic beads and stuffed animals ... the founder of the Mardi Gras Guide, now in its 49th annual edition.