This weekend will be Chris Mioton’s first Mardi Gras at home in New Orleans since his senior year of high school.

The Weinberg senior said his friends felt compelled to go back for this year’s celebration in light of Hurricane Katrina. He wanted to join them.

“It will be kind of a reunion in that sense,” said Mioton, who is from River Ridge, La..

He and other students from New Orleans said this Mardi Gras, the first since Katrina, is a landmark for their city and has driven them to return home, even if in past years they chose to stay on campus.

“This is definitely a time when the city wants to show it’s strong, it’s rebuilding,” Mioton said. “It will be fun, and it will be exciting.”

Mardi Gras’ two weeks of parades, food and parties culminates on Feb. 28, Fat Tuesday.

This also is the first time Communication sophomore Nick Lalla will travel home for the holiday. He will fly into New Orleans Saturday morning and stay until Wednesday.

Lalla said he felt connected to his city after Katrina and would likely appreciate this year more than any other year’s Mardi Gras.

“You don’t appreciate something until it’s almost taken away from you, and I expect that my Mardi Gras experience will probably be the best ever,” he said.

Mioton and two of his friends made a last-minute decision to pile into his Chevy Tahoe Thursday night and drive straight to New Orleans. If all goes as scheduled, they will arrive Friday morning after a 14-hour drive.

“We’re not going to stop except for food and gas,” he said.

Mioton said he also wants to return home to be with his parents, whom he won’t see often once he starts his investment banking job after graduation.

Because of the Katrina, some parades in New Orleans have been cancelled. The routes of other parades have been changed. But students said they still expect a joyful Mardi Gras celebration.

Lalla said he is eager to watch the Zulu parade, set to roll Tuesday. Float riders typically toss out beads and other trinkets, but those manning the Zulu floats lower decorated coconuts to certain crowd members, he said. They used to toss the prized items, but they discovered that was dangerous.

“They started hitting people in the head, so they stopped doing that,” he said.

Some coconuts have googly eyes and are covered in glitter and other colors, Lalla said. He said he has a large collection of coconuts.

McCormick freshman Megan Adolph has not missed a Mardi Gras since she was young. Because her Jefferson Parish home was severely damaged by flood waters, when she returns this weekend she will stay in a small suburban house her parents recently bought. During the winter holidays, she and her entire family packed into her grandmother’s house.

People who live along the parade routes typically open their houses to serve soft drinks and king cake, a traditional Mardi Gras dessert, Adolph said. Some houses serve chicken or sushi.

Restaurants along the parade routes also sell food and drinks. She said she hadn’t heard of any parties being cancelled.

Other students said they will not be returning home for the celebration.

Communication senior Alex Glaser has not been home for Mardi Gras since his freshman year at NU. He said Dance Marathon preparations are keeping him here this year.

But Glaser said this Mardi Gras still had symbolic meaning.

“You can knock down every single building and the whole city of New Orleans could be underwater – but the New Orleans culture will survive,” Glaser said. “Things like Mardi Gras are kind of a testament to that.”

Reach Lauren Pond at [email protected].