Happy Mardi Gras!  While New Orleans is 1,318 miles from Binghamton, there are a few things you can do to celebrate Mardi Gras today in the Southern Tier.  While Mardi Gras is much more than parades and food, it's the "fun and yummy" that people seem to associate the most with this Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

While I could not find a lot of restaurants offering Mardi Gras fare, Binghamton's Lost Dog Cafe and Tranquil Bar & Bistro seem to be the top choices for Seafood Gumbo, Jambalaya, Bourbon Street Bread Pudding and other traditional dishes.  Binghamton has a couple of new restaurants in the area that offer Caribbean food, and Mexican restaurants in Vestal, Endicott and Owego that may also do some specials. so you can always check with them as well.  

You don't have to travel 19 hours to get some of the fun facts on Fat Tuesday. For example, did you know it illegal to not have a mask on when you are in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans?  Here are a few more fun facts.

1)  Beads --- It wouldn't be Fat Tuesday without purple, gold and green beads, but how did those colors come to be symbolic with the holiday? The International Business Times reports that the King of the first daytime carnival in 1872 selected those colors based on their associated meaning and he would toss them to people he thought fit that meaning.
Purple = justice
Gold = power
Green = faith

2)  Alabama?  New Orleans was not the first American city to host a parade for the occasion. According to CNN, that was Mobile, Alabama. Louisiana is where the celebration originated in North America, though, and for that we can thank France for sending the LeMoyne brothers in 1699 to defend France's claim in Louisiana, as they brought the holiday with them.

3)  Mardi Gras may be the day before Lent, but it also marks the end of Carnival season, which begins Jan. 6.  A number of years ago I took in the festivities of New Orleans and I can honestly say from being there in mid summer, everyday is Mardi Gras in New Orleans or so it seems.  I recommend everyone visit this historic and fun city.

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