I've never quite managed to be there...
A couple of years ago, I worked for a consulting company - we were building a system for someone based in New Orleans, and our schedule was timed such that we would be doing the user acceptance testing during March and April. Mardi Gras was actually on the schedule
mid-March that year. But the schedule slipped, and we wound up going down to N.O. the week AFTER Mardi Gras
when the party was over, but the mess had yet to be cleaned up.
One of these years, I'll get there... Meantime, have fun!
