Mardi Gras officially ended Tuesday night with Fat Tuesday, but for those

who were not able to be there, Mardigras.com brought live coverage of all

hot spots during the wildest weekend of the year.

While Mardi Gras began in the 1700s as a pre-Lenten celebration, in the

past decades the interest of the event has reached outrageous proportions.

Over 3 million tourists traveled to New Orleans during Mardi Gras weekend

in 1999, and more were expected this year.

Seeing the popularity of Carnival rise made NOLA Live, a New Orleans news

and entertainment site, seek to provide people with an insider’s guide to

parades, parties, and music, as well as numerous live cams.

The site itself is about two years old and is divided into a cam section

and a visitor’s guide.

Mardigras.com has five cameras set throughout the city, the most prominent

one being the BourboCAM, which boasts a view of Bourbon Street 24 hours a

day. For the most part, the BourboCAM is hoards of beads and huge

grins.

The other live footage came from the BeadCAM, with a view from a balcony

across from the Cats Meow, the Mardi Gras 2000 headquarters, the

KaraokeCAM, taken from inside the Cats Meow, and the OysterCAM, which is

located in the Acme Oyster House in the French Quarter. There is also a

view of the Mississippi River Front courtesy of the RiverCAM and the

ZoomCAM, a 360-degree interactive cam that can be controlled by anyone

surfing Mardigras.com.

The visitor’s guide of Mardigras.com is a complete compilation of anything

a New Orleans tourist ever wanted to know. The site has a hotel search, as

well as guides to restaurants, bars and music venues for every taste. As

far as the Mardi Gras party scene is concerned, the site has tips on how to

have a great time legally and safely. It also includes schedules and maps

of official parade routes.

The goal of Mardigras.com is to help visitors have a great time during the

Festival, whether they can be there or not. It has a message board and chat

room to connect people in New Orleans with anyone in the world.

The site is an apparent success. Last year it received over 25 million

hits, 8.1 million of them on Fat Tuesday alone. With it being updated all

year long, along with its numerous cams, visitors can have a little taste

of New Orleans any time they want.