We came in for Mardi Gras this year and watched the Monday parade from Atrmosphere and had a great time, the crowd was nice the floats were great, the people were not rowdy. I rode as a guest in Gabriel Mardi Gras morning and all of the crowds were well behaved and lots of families just out enjoying the day. I saw no problems at all only one person who was making rude gesures to the floats and it appeared that his mother snatched him up for being a stupid punk.
Monday night after the parade we went to RocknBowl and watch the band and let my daughter get a taste of good Cajun music and my wife and daugter watched the parade on Johnston yesterday and had a great time and everyone around them was great. Overall I'd say Lafayette does a great job on Mardi Gras and it is a nice change since I don't do New Orleans Mardi Gras anymore