Finish up the last crumbs of king cake… Let Lent begin…

We had a good run, y’all!

In spite of a radically changed parade schedule for Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras 2025 ended with gusty, but lovely weather. And now… Lent begins.

I made my very last king cake on Sunday, taking a day off from the parades. We missed Thoth, which is one of my favorites, but… no excuses, we were just tired! So, I baked my personal homemade favorite; a king cake filled with butterscotch pudding, lightly glazed, and drizzled with caramel topping – and it’s almost gone!

Well, it better be. We have entered the Lenten season, and no more king cake will be had in this house until Epiphany next year. Bad luck. Brings hurricanes. Not gonna touch it!

It’s time to take the Mardi Gras decorations down. Most of New Orleans will try to get this done today, but there will be stragglers, some remnants of the party left behind for a few more weeks, and I’m grateful for it. It’s hard to go cold turkey off the high that is Carnival here.

We started January 6 into a LONG Mardi Gras season. Fresh off the Super Bowl fun, we entered SIX full weeks of joyous New Orleans spirit.

Crime rates hit unbelievable lows, and the weather shone like the rockstar it can be. As always, friends, neighbors and strangers shared a vibe that can only be described as a low-key euphoria over the city this time of year. (Actually, sometimes not-so-low-key!)

There is never so much ambition and industry here as we put into originating the grooviest krewe dances, the perfect gumbo, the most creative themes for family costumes, the conversations with people we don’t know on every corner of every street. This is us. This is where we shine.

For the next few weeks, my neighbor, Chris, who was king of Tucks, will continue to revel in the glory of his reign. Toilet paper will wave from the trees along Napoleon and St. Charles like a stubborn celebration that just won’t die, and the beads in the trees will sparkle until… about mid-summer. Then, like everything else, they droop and wilt and fade in the misery of summer.

Trying not to sound melodramatic… but it’s a mourning period here, for real.

Cheer up, though. Go get your drive-thru ashes at the Methodist Church on Claiborne. Drop off the bags of beads to ARC NOLA for recycling. Slowly find ways to get rid of all those plushies the kids brought home… and don’t forget… we don’t have to cook on Fridays now. There will be fish fry at every church, every school, every fire station… pretty much all over town – and we don’t hate that.

Happy Ash Wednesday, fellow citizens. It’s been beautiful. It’s been tri-color joy. It’s been high school bands and ladders and floats and things flying through the air. It’s been the best time of year, as always. Now we slow down.

Let the crawfish boils begin, and get rested for Festival Season.

Anne Beck,

Retired king cake baker (until next year).