When the modern Mardi Gras celebration in Galveston began in 1985, it’s safe to say that things were a little on the wild side.
“In the beginning, let’s just say that Mardi Gras was a little unorganized. But over the years, we’ve perfected it pretty well,” said David Smith, who’s in charge of fleet operations and special events for the city of Galveston.
Needless to say, that’s a little bit of an understatement. I remember going to Mardi Gras around 1988, and it was kind of like the Wild West meets Bourbon Street. People were everywhere; especially in places where they weren’t supposed to be. Crowd control was more or less a rumor and extreme public intoxication seemed to be considered a birth right.
But as the city prepares for Mardi Gras Galveston 2013, which begins on February 1, city officials, along with promoter, Yaga’s Entertainment, have gotten the job of safely hosting 250,000 to 300,000 sometimes rowdy, usually well lubricated visitors down to a science.
“We have a lot of meetings with the promoter, various city staff, especially the Street Department, along with the Police, Fire and Planning departments,” Smith says. “We also meet with representatives from Galveston County and the EMS to make sure everyone is clear about what needs to happen and when.”
Smith says the key element of the planning process takes place when all of the parties involved meet with Yaga’s officials, who present detailed street maps and provide information on what events are scheduled and when they will take place.
“Yaga’s does an excellent job with the set up and organization,” he adds.
Street Department crews are usually the first to move into action to set up the barricades to close down streets in the area. With an eye toward protecting the interests of business owners, Smith says crews wait as late as possible before shutting down streets.
“We don’t close off streets until we have to,” he explains. “We begin by putting up no parking signs the night before and then go in the next day to put the barricades in place.”
The barriers, which consist of water barricades, cones and interlocking fences for crowd control, stay in place in The Strand and downtown over the weekend during Mardi Gras, but are removed during the week.
A command post staffed by law enforcement, fire department, Galveston County officials and officers with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) is set up in the downtown area, but Smith says, thankfully, the unfettered rowdiness of the past has given way to a more controlled revelry.
“In years past, we had free admission, so we had some pretty unruly crowds at times. But now there is a charge to get in and that has dramatically reduced the amount of troubles and troublemakers in the venue areas,” Smith says.
After the last beads have been thrown comes the hard part: the clean up. Surprisingly, the city’s Public Works Department utilizes a team of only about 15 to 20 hard working employees, aided by a small armada of street sweeping trucks, rear end loaders and garbage trucks to make the mounds of debris left behind disappear.
“It doesn’t take a 100 people like you might think,” Smith says of the clean up effort. “One reason is Yaga’s employees on site clean up as much as they can during the event.”
Mardi Gras Galveston begins February 1 and runs through Fat Tuesday on February 12.
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