(AP Photo)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — People are out to party as New Orleans’ first full-dress Mardi Gras since 2020 dawns Tuesday, with a day of back-to-back parades through the city. Masks against COVID-19 are required only in indoor public spaces. Parades were canceled last year because officials realized that tightly packed crowds in 2020 had created a superspreader event. As it has for years, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club will open the day with a parade that started as a mockery of white festivities, with Black riders wearing blackface and grass skirts. Next come the elaborate floats of Rex, the self-styled king of Carnival, followed by lots of homemade floats on long flatbed trailers.