NEW ORLEANS — Every year Krewe Du Vieux’s parade is one of Check Point Charlie’s busiest days of the year.
“Mardi Gras day, Krewe Du Vieux and Halloween are the biggest nights of the year,” Claudia Boyle, a bartender at Check Point Charlie says. “Late afternoon, it starts getting real busy. You know, normally on a Saturday night, we have one or two bartenders, [during Krewe Du Vieux] we have four and a barback and the door guy.”
The bar staff has been prepping for the parade for weeks. But now, all the prep will go to waste, as Krewe Du Vieux announced they will not roll down Frenchman and much of Decatur. Check Point Charlie is near where the two streets intersect.
“I was really upset. I was definitely disappointed,” Boyle said.
Monday Krewe Du Vieux announced in a statement they will now line up on Homer Plessy, parade down Royal Street to Toulouse, eventually to Tchoupitoulas and ultimately ending at the Sugar Mill.
“After lengthy negotiations with NOPD, this was the best compromise we could get to that allows us to parade through both the Marigny and the French Quarter while remaining on the interior neighborhood streets rather than being pushed out to major thoroughfares,” the Krewe posted to Facebook.
Now businesses like Check Point Charlie will suffer a revenue cut, learning of it just days before the Krewe is set to line up.
“I wish they would’ve given us some notice it’s less than a week away it's like two or three weeks ago at least we wouldn't have scheduled people we don't need,” Boyle said.
While bars on Frenchmen and Decatur will now suffer a revenue loss, those on Magazine Street, like Le Bons Temps Roule, will now see a revenue boost they’ve been missing for a few years.
“It’s left us a bit empty. It’s been tough for the employees, it’s a big economic bump or boost for all the businesses up here and the workers and the service industry. We’ve missed that, that’s one thing on top of us being closed for covid so it was really like tough it was very tough,” Joe Bikulege, Owner of Le Bons Temps Roule said.
Monday Mayor Cantrell announced most parades can return to their normal routes. She says they’ve secured 100 additional officers for Carnival.
“We’re really excited now because we know it’s official and it’s here and we can move forward with staffing and getting ready for the parade,” Bikulege said. “My employees are really ecstatic because they’ve missed that for a few years.”
Bikulege says it’s not just exciting for him and other bar owners, but for everyone in the neighborhood.
“I love that but there’s also a lot of retail shops that get picked up business, they get creative during Mardi Gras and sell different things so they depend on that and basically the families and the community who likes to have their get-togethers, friends come in from different parts of the city or other cities. They’ve missed that the camaraderie so it benefits everybody,” Bikulege said.
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