Graceful and resilient, New Orleans boasts cultural celebration 10 years later

Americas

Graceful and resilient, New Orleans boasts cultural celebration 10 years later

From the Lower Ninth Ward to the Superdome, New Orleans observed the 10th anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina, paying tribute to its victims and homage to the city’s resilience in the face of disaster. A celebratory atmosphere set in at noon on Saturday when brass bands began marching. Hundreds of people danced behind the blaring trumpets, horns and drums and about a dozen rode horses. People streamed into the Smoothie King Center to hear former President Bill Clinton say “You’ve got a lot to celebrate tonight. But the celebration must be leavened by rededication.” In a show of solidarity with other states on the Gulf of Mexico damaged by Katrina, a group called Gulf South Rising set up shop in Louis Armstrong Park at the edge of New Orleans’s French Quarter. “The seas are rising and so are we,” read banners hung on either side of the gateway to the park.

On Saturday, dignitaries made speeches to honor the 1,500 who died, brass bands marched through the streets and neighbors gathered for block parties across New Orleans, where the mood shifted in turns from somber to reflective to celebratory. The day began with Mayor Mitch Landrieu leading a somber tribute for the 83 “forgotten” victims whose unclaimed bodies lie in mausoleums at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, housed in one of the city’s historic above-ground cemeteries. Across town, hundreds gathered in the Lower Ninth Ward on a grass verge abutting the Industrial Canal levee that was breached 10 years ago, unleashing some of the worst flooding.