January 6…12th Night…Feast of the Epiphany…whatever you call it, this is the day Carnival in New Orleans begins.

The multi-week region-wide festival is by far the biggest and most ambitious festival in North America and culminates on Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, which this year falls very early, February 4th, the earliest Mardi Gras in many decades.

National media attention on the event will be significantly diluted by the US Presidential Primary which has its “Super Tuesday” the same day. The Super Bowl will be held the Sunday before.

This is unfortunate because the only two times a year the media pays attention to the still unhealed condition of New Orleans is on the anniversary of the flood and on Mardi Gras.