NEW ORLEANS — Monday morning, crews with the city's Parks and Parkways Department cut down a tree limb along the Magazine Street parade route after two floats crashed into it this weekend.
The signature jester float with the Krewe of Pygmalion lost its head Saturday night when the float ran into a tree limb at the start of the route just off Jefferson Avenue.
"About $20,000 worth of damage total and the top structure is all torn out and beat up pretty bad," said the Krewe of Pygmalion Captain, Jack Rizzuto.
Rizzuto puts no blame on the tractor driver who has been driving floats with him for 20-plus years.
"This tractor driver was being instructed by a police officer," he said.
During the incident, one of the riders fell to the ground. Rizzuto said the rider was wearing a harness as required by the city, but he took it off to help.
"The gentleman on this float was not intoxicated by any standard. He was trying to stop the prop from falling and hitting other rides," Rizzuto said.
The rider did not appear to have any major injuries and kept riding.
Then Sunday, a float with the Krewe of King Arthur ran into the same limb.
That's why Parks and Parkways cut down the roughly 25-foot-long limb from the oak tree.
"What I'm doing moving forward, I build for two other parades they will follow that route, I'm putting one of my representatives in the turn and we will turn the way we know to keep it safe whether the limb is there or not," Rizzuto said.
Michael Karam, Director of Parks and Parkways released the following statement:
"Out of an abundance of caution, the Department Parks and Parkways' Forestry Division removed the roughly 25-foot-long, 9-inch-diameter limb from the live oak located near the Magazine and Jefferson intersection. Parkways’ arborists cut the limb right above the branch collar, ensuring that the healthy oak would not be susceptible to infection or rotting. Fortunately, there was minimal canopy loss given the horizontal growth of the limb.
On-site Forestry Division members inspected the tree Saturday night and confirmed that the branch was outside of the clearance zone, which was previously inspected leading up to parade start dates. The branch was roughly 10 feet from the curb, leaving approximately 18 feet of roadway for the turns to be made, as they have done in years past."
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