SF celebrating Mardi Gras with free events for Fat Tuesday

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Gather your beads! Mardi Gras is back! San Francisco is celebrating Fat Tuesday with some free events.

At 5 p.m. Mardi Gras in San Francisco's Fillmore District with a free blues concert, second-line processional, costumes, and beads. Proof of vaccine is needed.

A Mission Parklet Crawl with live parklet performances also starts at 5 p.m. in the Mission corridor between 16th and 24th.

Online reservations are required for both.

The Big Easy is also once again embracing Fat Tuesday after the pandemic put a stop to the parades and parties.

New Orleans is hosting festivities throughout the city today. Masks are required in indoor public spaces.

Parade routes will also be shorter than usual because there aren't enough police for the standard ones.

Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French. People celebrate it by overindulging in rich and fatty foods ahead of Lent. That's the 40 day fasting period leading up to Easter.