Saints Parade in New Orleans Today: Time, Route and Schedule

by Michael Small | February 9, 2010 at 11:39 am

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The Saints Parade in New Orleans is expected to draw 250,000 fans today. The New Orleans parade starts at 5 p.m. central time and will be a hybrid Saints celebration and Mardi Gras kickoff.

The Super Bowl Victory parade will feature the Saints players and coaches on 12 different floats, tossing beads to fans still drunk off the Super Bowl celebration. The city has ordered 1.8 million beads for the parade, although black and gold ones were hard to come by. Black and gold beads have pretty much sold out throughout the city.

The parade route will start at the Superdome and end at the Convention Center near the river. The parade will move along downtown New Orleans from Howard up St. Charles Avenue past Lafayette Square, before heading down Canal Street. Finally, the parade will move its way south on Fulton where it ends at the convention center.

While there will be plenty of beads on display, don't expect the same for breasts. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is famous for women baring their breasts in return of beads, but city officials say over 600 police will be on hand for the event, and any public nudity will be met with a fine or jail time. The city is worried about nudity since the event will be played live around the world.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune will be streaming the parade live.

The Carnival-flavored parade honoring the team’s 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts is scheduled to start in the afternoon at their home turf, the Louisiana Superdome. It will include 12 marching bands and one float each from 10 krewes. Float builder Barry Kern said he believes it’s the first time the groups — which celebrate Carnival season with separate parades — will combine floats in one procession.