Alabama Claims to Be Home of Mardi Gras

Alabama's Tourism Department purchased 10 billboards around New Orleans and Southern Mississippi to promote the Mardi Gras celebration in Mobile.

Bama Tourism Director Lee Sentell says the billboards don't mention Mobile specifically, but encourage motorists "do some math" and figure out it's Mobile. You might be surprised to learn Mobile held Mardi Gras celebrations as early as 1703. That was 15 years before New Orleans was established along the Mississippi River.

OK, Alabama, you go ahead and pretend you're the home of Mardi Gras. But we really know there is no Mardi Gras celebration like the parties and parades we have in Louisiana.