Nevada City's rollicking Mardi Gras party includes a parade and street fest

NEVADA CITY AND NEW ORLEANS? These two spectacular cities may be found in two different and not close-at-all states, but their states of merry mind are the same when it comes to a certain celebration that arrives just ahead of Lent. There shall be, in both places, beads, and costumes, and music, and an expressive, joyful, let-the-good-times-roll sort of approach. That holiday is Mardi Gras, of course, and while the Lousiana destination honors it on a Tuesday — well, and several days before the official occasion, in myriad ways — the long-running Nevada City party pops up on a weekend day. And in 2024, you'll want to dance into the Gold Country hamlet on Feb. 10, a Saturday, for the four-hour street fair and the bead-toss-tastic, wear-your-masks, feel-the-fun parade.

IT'S A VENERABLE CELEBRATION, with nearly three decades under its glittery belt, a "riotous" affair that boasts all of the Fat Tuesday touchstones, from gussied-up parade royalty to well-festooned floats. Of course, Nevada City isn't nearly as capacious as metropolitan New Orleans, so you might call this a petite parade, one that is smaller than the world-famous Louisiana lark but has plenty of spirit and spunk. Still, let's give capacious credit where credit is dancefully due: This plucky party is billed as one of "the largest Mardi Gras to be found along the West Coast." Its outlandish outsize-a-tude can really fill up the town, so be sure to make your overnight arrangements in advance. Where to start? Don your shiny beads and dance by this page now.