NEW ORLEANS - Lampposts in the French Quarter are festooned with bows of purple, green and gold ribbon. Garlands and buntings of the same colors hang from Bourbon Street balconies.

"Now hiring" signs are in virtually every bar and restaurant window.

Bill Haber/AP (ENLARGE)

One of the decorations that was used on one of the approximately 450 floats built by Kern Studios for parades during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Michael DeMocker/AP (ENLARGE)

A rider flings beads as the Knights of Sparta parade down the traditional Uptown route Saturday in New Orleans.

Rick McKay/Cox News Service (ENLARGE)

Sisters Anna, 4, (from left) Alex, 3, and Ashlyn Rose Moore, 5, of Enterprise, Ala., sit atop the family parade ladder as they reach for beads being throw from one of the floats in the Pontchartrain Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans on Saturday. The Big Easy began its second Mardi Gras season since Hurricane Katrina this past weekend.

And the Royal Sonesta Hotel is gearing up for Friday's big event, the Greasing of the Poles: A hotel engineer slathers petroleum jelly on the balcony supports to keep overly zealous revelers from ascending.

City in full swing

Mardi Gras is on the way. It's Feb. 20 this year - always 47 days before Easter - although events started trickling onto the calendar Jan. 6. The fun kicked into high gear this past weekend, with dozens of parades in the Uptown area continuing up to the close of Fat Tuesday itself.

New Orleans, still working hard to recover from Hurricane Katrina nearly a year and a half ago, seems in a festive mood, albeit one tinged with an edge of anxiety. The city needs the revenue from a good Mardi Gras.

"There's a better appreciation for everything in New Orleans these days," said Mary Beth Romig, communications director for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Spirits are high."

Mayor Ray Nagin, keenly aware that 17 people were slain in the first month of 2007, has proclaimed his determination to make it a safe Mardi Gras, adding patrols and putting up security cameras in some parts of town, including St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street, the primary parade locations.

'Use common sense'

And additional Louisiana state police will be on duty, says New Orleans Police Department spokesman Bob Young, adding, "I don't think it's any more dangerous than it ever was."

He urged Mardi Gras revelers to "use common sense," stay in groups, don't wander around in dark areas and don't carry large amounts of money - "Parades are a magnet for pickpockets."

Keeping all that in mind, rest assured there'll be plenty to see this year, as more than two dozen parades roll back to back over the final two weeks. Celebrity spotters will be happy: James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" is the designated celebrity for the Bacchus parade on Feb. 20. Last year's "American Idol" winner, Taylor Hicks, will be grand marshal of the Endymion parade on Saturday.

The Krewe of Orpheus - Harry Connick Jr.'s parade group - will have as its celebrity grand marshals New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and actress Patricia Clarkson, and Connick himself will be around this year.

Jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, a mainstay of Mardi Gras, will be back with his Half-Fast Marching Club's parade on Fat Tuesday. He was sick last year and missed the festivities.

A party a night

And, of course, the mad hordes will be descending on the French Quarter every night for partying after a day of grabbing beads tossed from parade floats and eating king cake, the traditional Mardi Gras cake topped with green, purple and gold sugar, with a plastic baby embedded in it. (If you get the baby in your piece, you get to buy the next cake for everybody.)

If you're thinking about coming to Mardi Gras and haven't booked a room yet, you may still be able to find one, though your choices may be slim in the French Quarter. Last week, the elegant Royal Sonesta (504) 586-0300) had rooms for $284 with a four-night minimum stay. All the balcony rooms are taken.

About a mile away but still in the French Quarter, the Hotel Richelieu ((504) 529-2492) had just a few rooms left at $250, with a four-night minimum stay.

Outside the Quarter, things don't seem as tight. The hip International House ((800) 633-5770), two blocks from the Quarter in the Central Business District, had rooms starting at $159 with a two-night minimum stay.

And the parades - with a couple of quirky exceptions such as this afternoon's Krewe of Barkus dog parade - don't go through the Quarter, anyway. Its streets are too narrow. The mainstay of parade-watching is St. Charles Avenue. Pick a perch and watch.

There's no charge to watch the parade.

You can, for $30 to $60, buy a ticket to sit on the viewing stands on Canal Street. Call (504) 586-0800.

The drill is this: Each float has folks with the specific job of throwing beads. Yell, "Throw me something, mister!" Make eye contact. Look earnest.

If you miss, don't try to bend down and grab the beads. You'll get your pinkie stomped. Just put your foot on the prize until you can pick it up later.

After the parades, nights in the French Quarter are a huge party. Whereas it's great to take children to the Mardi Gras parades, keep them off Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras.

Whether you're here to watch the parades, beef up your bead collection or revel on Bourbon Street, you need to make your plan now if you want to do Mardi Gras. For more information, go to www.nola.com /mardigras, or call your travel agent. And don't forget to eat a piece of king cake. (Don't choke on the baby.)

Helen Anders writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: handers AT statesman.com