By: Jayne Duignan
Not only does Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, create fun memories for visitors and locals alike, it generates significant revenue for the city and businesses. According to www.mobilecarnivalmuseum.com/economic-impact, “Mardi Gras in Mobile brings a powerful quarter-of-a-billion-dollar economic windfall to the Port City. The pageantry and parade celebration provides entertainment for the community and tourists, coupled with financial support for the city.”
www.mobilecarnivalmuseum.com/economic-impact discusses a study commissioned by the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau for Dr. Samuel Addy and Ahmad Ijaz in 2004.
The study reviewed the economic impact of Mardi Gras in Mobile and Baldwin County and found that “the overall economic impact realized from Mardi Gras is a whopping $408.6 million, including $49.4 million in taxes- (income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes). Of the tax revenue, the state garners $28.6 million, and Mobile and Baldwin county region $20.9 million.”
A separate study completed by The Press Register in 2008 reviewed the cost to even throw a parade for a mystic society, which refused to be named.
In 2007, this specific mystic society “spent about $260,000 in their 14-float procession,” according to www.mobilecarnivalmuseum.com/press-register-2008-economic-study. This money was spent on floats, a float barn, costumes, insurance, horses, rented pickup trucks for pulling the floats, drivers for the floats, marching bands, truck bands, a permit, and other additional expenses.
Needless to say, there are numerous aspects to Mardi Gras that bring in revenue for Mobile. So, when Mardi Gras was canceled in 2021 due to the pandemic, the town and businesses who benefit during the celebration felt a heavy economic hit.
The Negative Impact
Kayla Byrne began her role as a business attraction manager at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce in October 2021. Byrne noted that businesses thrive on visitors for Mardi Gras, which packs out hotels and restaurants during that time. However, with the cancellation of Mardi Gras celebrations in 2021, those businesses didn’t see the same foot traffic or overnight stays.
According to Byrne, resources were provided to businesses in Alabama on https://covid19.alabama.gov/. A specific resource that was beneficial was the small business support link www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options, which offered COVID-19 relief options including the paycheck protection program, COVID-19 EIDL loan, debt relief, funding for food service businesses and the shuttered venues grant.
“Some businesses had no choice but to close or drop capacity based on the kind of business they were, but this (website) helps lay out resources that were available in Alabama,” Byrne said.
Although Alabama introduced businesses throughout the state to different resources, including information on the CARES Act and small business support, it proved to be inadequate for some.
“Some businesses never recovered from the shutdown and closed permanently,” Byrne said. “Whether that was due to staffing, upkeep of the business, not being able to sustain to-go/curbside service depending on the type of business, etc.”
Adapting to Change
Bienville Bites Food Tour was opened by Chris Andrews in 2017, and the business experienced its first Mardi Gras in 2018.
“We offer walking food tours in downtown Mobile where guests come and we take them to different restaurants,” Andrews said.
“Tour guides usually stop to talk about the history of Mobile, what makes it unique, and tell different stories.” In addition to Andrews, there are three other tour guides for Bienville Bites Food Tours.
Throughout the year, Andrews said they offer different seasonal themed food tours, such as a haunted food tour in the fall.
During the Mardi Gras season in Mobile, Bienville Bites Food Tour offers the Floats and Food Tour for locals and tourists alike to dive deep into the history and cuisine of the area.
For the business’ first Mardi Gras in 2018, Andrews recalled wanting to capitalize on the season of celebration.
“I was in contact with a guy who had an office space right on the parade route on Government Street in downtown Mobile, so I just asked him if we could somehow do our food tour and come back to his business and watch the parade from his place of business.”
To Andrews surprise, he was able to secure the space.
“He was very open to it, so we jumped right in on that and we called it our ‘Floats and Food Tour’. So, we served champagne and King Cake, and it was great. I thought it was very successful. We saw more visitors during that time than we ever had. We were just a year old at that point, and I think that helped jumpstart our tours of Mobile.”
The Floats and Food Tour is now a recurring event for Bienville Bites Food Tour and is offered on weekend nights during Mardi Gras, which is when the parades occur.
In 2021, however, all of the parades for Mardi Gras were canceled by Mobile. The city was not allowing businesses to get permits and did not offer an alternative event in place of the parades.
With the Floats and Food Tour being the most popular tour, Andrews said the cancellation significantly impacted the business.
“That’s been the most popular tour that we give all year. There’s different themed tours that we do, but that’s by far the most popular one. We see a lot of locals come out, and most locals have never seen a parade from a balcony or the VIP section that we offer. There’s over a million people that come to Mobile for Mardi Gras, so we see a lot of tourists as well.”
Despite the absence of Mardi Gras parades, Bienville Bites Food Tour was able to adapt. Andrews expressed that Mardi Gras is still a holiday to be celebrated, even if it looked a little different than what everyone was used to.
“One thing we did to adapt was make shippable Mardi Gras packages. We called it ‘Party like a Mobilian Box’.” Andrews stated the packages were a taste of Mobile Mardi Gras. “We put in MoonPies, an entire King cake, cookies, beignet mix and information on the history of Mardi Gras in Mobile.”
This business strategy proved to be a great success with over 220 boxes being sold throughout 39 states. The packages were available for sale this year, but with celebrations bouncing back to normal again, Andrews said they didn’t see as much success with them as the year prior.
Overcoming the Struggle
Frank Schottgen has lived in Mobile for 27 years and is the owner of Serda's Coffee Company in Mobile, which has been open for 11 years. Serda’s Coffee Company is located on the parade route on S. Royal Street. They serve a King Cake Latte and a Moon Pie Latte for a limited time, only available during the Mardi Gras season.
When Schottgen heard about the cancellation of Mardi Gras celebrations in downtown Mobile, he said he felt devastated, since “Mardi Gras is the biggest time of the year, revenue wise, for us.”
According to Schottgen, Serda’s Coffee Company was able to adapt and survive during the pandemic by scaling back hours of operation and introducing online ordering through apps like Waitr and DoorDash.
Schottgen always saw the light at the end of the tunnel for the business and was certain that 2022 would be the year that Mardi Gras returned.
“I was against the lockdowns from the beginning, so by the time Mardi Gras season rolled around, we all felt like COVID was over,” Schottgen said.
Even though Serda’s Coffee Company felt a big hit by the absence of Mardi Gras celebrations in 2021 with the loss of revenue and employees, they were still able to survive.
Bouncing Back
Unfortunately, even with resources and help from the state, the economic toll some businesses suffered from the absence of Mardi Gras in 2021 proved to be too much.
However, other businesses were able to adapt with solutions adopted during COVID-19, such as new business ventures like Bienville Bites Food Tour tried or even simple solutions by Serda Coffee Company like scaling back hours of operations.
In 2022, Mardi Gras in Mobile returned for a bigger and better celebration than ever. According to the Mobile Police Department, via a post on @251mardigras on Instagram, approximately 157,000 people were in attendance at the Conde Cavaliers parade. That total is “about 20,000 more than the biggest crowd of 2020.”
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