Mardi Gras 2019 falls on Tuesday, March 5, and nobody has mastered the art of celebrating like Copeland’s of New Orleans Atlanta-area restaurants.
Our guests and friends are invited to both Copeland’s locations (Kennesaw, 1142 Barrett Parkway West and Cumberland, 3101 Cobb Pkwy SE, Suite 220) for the most authentic Mardi Gras celebration in Atlanta. The celebration will begin at 5 P.M., and will fill up quickly, so don’t wait!
“It’s the only authentic New Orleans Mardi Gras event in Atlanta,” says Bill Goudey, President & CEO of the Atlanta-area Copeland’s stores. “We try to make it feel like you’re in New Orleans when you can’t be!”
For Bill and his Krewe, this is an annual blowout that has grown for 20 years. Year after year, the carnival atmosphere at Copeland’s includes the famous traditional Mardi Gras menu, with items like the crawfish sample platter (seasonal, based on availability)* prepared with three of our favorite items in one platter. It’s served with crawfish etouffée, boiled crawfish and popcorn crawfish to make this an authentic Louisiana taste. In fact, we even have live crawfish shipped in just for this event (if available)!
Our Mardi Gras menu also includes panéed alligator, boiled shrimp, étouffée … Plus the popular variety platters that give you several kinds of shrimp and or crawfish. And of course we’ll have Copeland’s King Cake Cheesecake, served every year as a special dessert.
But Mardi Gras isn’t just about Cajun food. We’ll have live bands playing carnival music in both stores from 6 – 9 P.M.! Guests can listen and dance along while enjoying Mardi Gras Punch and “Crash and Burns” in 16-oz souvenir cups for $6. And of course we’ll have that signature Big Easy drink, the Hurricane, available as well (also $6).
“We encourage people to come in early and hang out and listen to the music,” says Bill. “Staff and guests will join up for impromptu ‘second lines’ (parades), while the band plays renditions of ‘When the Saints go Marching In.’”
“We’ll have beads and giveaways for kids, the big Mardi Gras umbrella, plus we’ll do the same ‘throws’ you get along the parade route in New Orleans,” Bill says. “It’s definitely a festive atmosphere.”
Check out the video showcasing some of the excellent Mardi Gras parties we’ve hosted in the past:
If you don’t know about the history behind Mardi Gras, Copeland’s of New Orleans in Kennesaw and Cumberland are here to help! You see, in Louisiana and other places where Carnival celebrations are a big deal, the parades and parties start with the Epiphany (or King’s Day) and reach their peak on the day before Ash Wednesday.
That day is Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday”, so-called due to the practice of the last night of eating wonderful, rich foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.
Our roots are in New Orleans, where the locals are lucky enough to get the day off work and school for Fat Tuesday. The whole city wants to let the good times roll! We here in the A-T-L don’t get a paid holiday just to eat king cake and line up along parade routes for beads and throws, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun.
Come to Copeland’s of Atlanta—it’s the closest you’ll get to Mardi Gras this year without leaving the Atlanta area!