From USA TODAY Network and wire reports
Alabama
Mobile: Thousands of joyful revelers, many without masks, competed for plastic beads and trinkets tossed from floats as Alabama’s port city threw a Mardi Gras-style parade Friday night, its first since Carnival celebrations were scrapped earlier this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many lined up shoulder-to-shoulder and several deep along sidewalks, shouting and cheering as nearly 30 floats and several high school marching bands crossed a stretch of downtown Mobile. With COVID-19 hospitalizations and vaccinations ebbing, many partied with abandon. It was definitely not a Mardi Gras parade: Those can only be held during Mardi Gras, the period before Lent. But it felt a lot like one, which was a big part of the goal after months of lockdowns, illness, deaths and face masks. James L. Hurst said he was jubilant to be out partying after a difficult year. Many had no face coverings amid an upbeat mood sweeping the crowd on a balmy sprin
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of joyful revelers, many without masks, competed for plastic beads and trinkets tossed from floats as Alabama s port city threw a Mardi Gras-style parade Friday