Although the pandemic canceled Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen found a way to celebrate the cultural holiday.
The fast food chain selected restaurants decorated with Mardi Gras floats earlier this month in New Orleans, according to local news agency WDSU-TV.
However, Popeyes started providing additional information about how the company managed to get the festive decoration in a YouTube video shared on its official channel on Thursday.
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“With the cancellation of the Mardi Gras parades, the layoffs hit float builders in New Orleans,” says the text on the video screen. “So we have hired local artists to turn our NOLA restaurants into Mardi Gras floats.”
Popeyes hired workers from Kern Studios, a company that builds props, floats and custom parades, to lift Mardi Gras-themed displays at the top of each roof.
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In total, there were three floats on the roof built at 3100 Carrollton Avenue, 1243 St. Charles Avenue and 4238 S Claiborne Avenue.
The float design at 3100 Carrollton Avenue appears to be dedicated to the city’s affinity for live music with clippings from Mardi Gras-themed wind players and a painted singing character. The other float at 1243 St. Charles Avenue appears to be dedicated to iconic Mardi Gras buffoons with statue heads wearing green, purple and yellow jester hats and mask masks.
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Meanwhile, the Popeyes restaurant at 4238 S Claiborne Avenue has a timely float that highlights essential workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Statues of medical professionals appear alongside traditional carnival clippings, including buffoons and other carnival celebrants.
The float also has murals depicting other frontline workers, such as military and police, post and health workers and more.
Popeyes did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
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Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans since 1699, according to the History channel.
The holiday is also known as “Fat Tuesday” and is a carnival celebration that usually takes place the day before Ash Wednesday – a Christian holy day that involves prayer and fasting.
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Before the coronavirus-related cancellations, Mardi Gras celebrations in recent years attracted about 250,000 people, according to local police forces.