Virus affects small businesses as Mardi Gras nears

During last year's Carnival season, tourists at the Elysian Fields Inn gathered over breakfast to talk about parades from the night before.

At NOLA Art Bar, they sipped cocktails and watched a parade go by. But not this year. COVID-19 is tamping down the joy — and the revenue — associated with Carnival season in New Orleans.

Parades that normally draw thousands in the weeks before Fat Tuesday — which falls on Feb. 16 this year — have been canceled.

In this city where music, food and cultural celebrations are interlocking blocks of the hospitality industry, bars and restaurants that usually overflow with free-spending customers are closed or operating at limited capacity. Live music is all but dead.

The toll of this year's toned-down Mardi Gras is evident.

Many of the street's small business owners have weathered so much already that even as coronavirus vaccinations ramp up, they're prepared for a long wait before business gets back to normal.

Jennifer and Matt Johnson bought what is now the Carnaval Lounge on St. Claude in May 2019 and the 2020 Mardi Gras season was their first as business owners.

They were becoming popular for local live music and Brazilian food. Hundreds passed through on Fat Tuesday. But by the time the next big event on the calendar rolled around _ St. Patrick's Day _ the pandemic shut everything down. They still have the Guinness.

They cautiously reopened after Labor Day at restricted capacity and without live music. But that lasted until about November when they started to notice a renewed cautiousness in customers uneasy about going out.

So, they closed yet again and likely won't reopen their doors until it's clear that live music can happen again.

They have now officially been closed longer than they were ever open, Jennifer told The Associated Press.

Cautiously optimistic with vaccines becoming available and the passage of the Save Our Stages legislation that aims to get money to struggling music venues, they also understand that people crowded into clubs to hear live music will likely be one of the last things to return to normal.

Li'l Dizzy's Café on Esplanade Avenue has been closed since the pandemic, which forced the owner into early retirement.

His son and daughter-in-law have recently acquired the restaurant and are hoping to reopen in time for Mardi Gras.

They won't be allowed to have the buffet-style service of gumbo and red beans and rice they're known for, though. Customers will have to order plates to go or eat at one of the few spaced out tables inside or along the sidewalk outside.

The recipes will remain the same and the food will have the same great flavor, says new owner Arkesha Smith Baquet.

Even if they manage to open in time for Mardi Gras, they are expecting a financial hit without the plethora of tourists this time of year.

But that's okay, Baquet said. She says she'd rather people wait and return next year when it's safer.

(Image Credit: AP)