Steve Wiley Discusses Your Complaints About Lafayette Mardi Gras

"Lafayette parades sucked."

"Too short."

"They didn't throw enough."

Complaints like these about Lafayette Mardi Gras 2017 have been plentiful in social media.

Carnival is over. Lent has begun. It's a season of penance and reflection. This seems to me like a great to reflect on this year's festivities.

I'm the Townsquare Media float captain. As such, I've been dealing with the logistics of placing a float in the Independent Parade for nearly a decade. It's an expensive undertaking. The parade fee is $1,000, Float rental, $2,000. The mandatory one day, $2 million dollar insurance policy costs $625. We threw more than $10,000 worth of beads in this year's parade. Add food & "refreshments. This brings the tab to nearly $14,000, with no direct monetary return on the investment.

A lot of the floats are entered by businesses. We're all aware the business community in Lafayette has had a tough couple of years. Compound that with layoffs and people dealing with the impact of a historic flood.

Perhaps we should all be grateful we still have Mardi Gras in this beautiful, unique community.

Remember, "Everywhere else, it's just Tuesday."