{"id":239939,"date":"2018-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/san-diego-krewes-take-a-break\/"},"modified":"2018-02-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T08:00:00","slug":"san-diego-krewes-take-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/san-diego-krewes-take-a-break\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego krewes take a break"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Morgan M. Hurley | Editor<\/p>\n

Locals can still celebrate Mardi Gras with a day and night alternative<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the last 24 years, San Diego has had one of \u2014 if not the \u2014 largest annual Mardi Gras celebrations outside of New Orleans, drawing nearly 10,000 people to the streets of the Gaslamp Quarter for a massive block party and parade on the Saturday prior to Fat Tuesday every February.<\/p>\n

This year, however, Gaslamp residents and business owners will be taking a breather, while the producer, McFarlane Promotions, Inc., puts the large-scale event on a one-year hiatus.<\/p>\n

\"San
While entertainers from last year\u2019s San Diego Mardi Gras celebration will be taking a break this year, attendees will still have the opportunity to enjoy a\u00a0carnival of a good time. (Photos courtesy McFarlane Promotions, Inc.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Laurel McFarlane \u2014 whose company, along with Tickled Pink Productions, has been the event\u2019s co-producer since 2014 \u2014 said that the break will pay off significantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have recently formed collaborations with some experienced groups that we feel are going to bring a great new energy to the event and make the parade and festival components really spectacular,\u201d said McFarlane, who also acted as event coordinator during the two decades the Gaslamp Quarter Association produced Mardi Gras between 1994-2014.<\/p>\n

\"San
(Photos courtesy McFarlane Promotions, Inc.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTo cultivate those partnerships and have time to make this event everything it should be, we felt we needed a full year to plan,\u201d she said. \u201cWe look forward to bringing something really special back to the Gaslamp Quarter in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is good news to Downtown, since other neighborhoods, citing growing costs, are looking instead to scale down their Mardi Gras events this year, including nearby Hillcrest, which is having a nighttime \u201cBus Stop Party Hop\u201d event in lieu of their normal block party.Despite the short hiatus, there will still be much to do and celebrate in the Gaslamp Quarter this month when \u201cMardi Gras Beads, Bites and Booze Tour\u201d \u2014 an alternative event, which originally had its debut in 2017 \u2014 takes place Saturday, Feb. 10, from 1\u20135 p.m.<\/p>\n

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of event, and include up to 20 New Orleans-inspired bites and 20 carnival-style booze sips from participating businesses throughout the reaches of the Gaslamp Quarter and beyond.<\/p>\n

The Field, Analog, Tin Roof, Ciro\u2019s Pizza, El Chingon, Havana 1920, Altitude Sky Lounge, Coyote Ugly and Spike\u2019s Seafood Grill are just a few of the restaurants that are on the tour. With 2,500 expected to attend, it is certain to be an eventful but more low-key way of honoring Fat Tuesday.<\/p>\n

An after party, dubbed Carnival of Colors and co-produced by the local \u201ckrewe” Brazilian Productions, starts at 4 p.m. and will allow revelers to continue their evening with a Carnival-style theme party that will feature music, dancing and entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Carnival of Colors After Party has no end time, so attendees can keep the party going as long as they like,\u201d McFarlane said.<\/p>\n

\"San
(Photos courtesy McFarlane Promotions, Inc.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McFarlane also said that the inaugural Beads, Bites and Booze Tour event was a \u201chuge success,\u201d and she shared with San Diego Downtown News that one attendee from last year recently gushed on her Facebook page, calling the event the \u201cbest money [she] ever spent on a ticket,\u201d and \u201ca must\u201d attend.<\/p>\n

Costumes are encouraged and those who make their way through the self-guided tour will collect Mardi Gras-style beads at every stop from each of the participating venues. Those who collect a minimum of 10 sets of beads will be given a special white bead necklace, which will grant them entrance to the after party.<\/p>\n

The cost of the tour \u2014 which includes the after party for the tenacious \u2014 is half the price of a general admission ticket to the block parties of years\u2019 past, and by participating you will also help local merchants.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttendees [of the Beads, Bites and Booze Tour] can still enjoy the Gaslamp Quarter at night by staying for the after party or visiting another establishment, but we felt that by holding the event in the day we were supporting the local merchants and providing additional business for them,\u201d McFarlane said.<\/p>\n

To learn more about participating restaurants and purchase tickets, visit bit.ly\/2BnW6aV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Reach Morgan M. Hurley at morgan@sdcnn.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Morgan M. Hurley | Editor<\/p>","protected":false},"author":753,"featured_media":239940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"San Diego krewes take a break","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}