LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Some 1,300 miles from New Orleans, Louisiana, there's a bit of Bourbon Street on Crossgate Drive in South Abington Township.
Larry and Marcia Walsh's daughter Tarryn lives in New Orleans and is participating in the new Mardi Gras tradition. Since parades are canceled this year, people are decorating their houses as parade floats.
Decorating houses is a Walsh family tradition.
"We've been decorating a long time," Larry said. "It's a family affair. Everybody's involved, but our daughter Tarryn was pretty much the catalyst for all of it, and she was the catalyst also for the Mardi Gras decorations. Everyone in New Orleans is decorating their homes this year for Mardi Gras. There are no parades, and she convinced us to get on board, and since we had everything pretty much in place, we thought, 'Why not? Let's go for it.'"
The Walshes go all out for holidays year-round, and the lights were still up from Christmas, so Larry switched out the bulbs to yellow, purple, and green to illuminate the house for Fat Tuesday.
"I've got emails from a couple of our neighbors saying, 'Your Mardi Gras decorations are awesome.' Emails, texts, and then even people, friends of mine, will drive by the house and just say, 'Oh, my God.' you know, and Facebook messages or what have you, but I think they really enjoy it," Marcia said.
The Walshes have their own connection to New Orleans' Mardi Gras, but most of their neighbors don't. They say this has been an opportunity to spread some much-needed joy miles away from the French Quarter.
"All the years that we've been doing this, Stacy, I think this is the year that we've gotten more reaction than ever before," Larry said. "We did ramp up the Christmas decorations a little bit this year as well, and a lot of people said, 'When I drive by your house, it just puts a smile on my face.' And it's a lot of work, but in the end, it's worth it."