http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/national/nationalspecial/12mardigras.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=sloginMardi Gras All Set to Go, but Officials Want Help
City officials here boldly decided last fall to hold the parades of Mardi Gras, even though the city treasury was empty and large swaths of the town still lay in ruins. The price, though, was their demand that the beloved party abandon tradition and seek corporate sponsors.
With the official start of festivities scheduled for next Saturday, no corporation has come up with the $2 million the city was hoping to receive for the naming rights to Mardi Gras, which was first celebrated here 150 years ago.
So far only a single company, the trash-bag maker Glad Products, has said it will contribute to the cause. On Tuesday, Glad, a subsidiary of the Clorox Company, announced an unspecified six-figure donation to the city and a gift of 100,000 trash bags
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Reginald Zeno, the city's finance director, said he was "concerned" that the extra costs of Mardi Gras would "put a further drain on a budget at a time we're already facing a deep deficit." But like Mr. Collins, Mr. Zeno sees Mardi Gras as an investment that the city has no choice but to make.
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does this sound insane when 2 mil would get those trailers out of Ark. to the people who need them. the people just put out of motels, etc.
or city employees paid.