Galveston Mardi Gras Shakes Post-Ike Blues

GALVESTON -- People are finally in the mood to celebrate again on Galveston Island, five months after Hurricane Ike.

The boulevard along the famed seawall was lined with hundreds of bead-wearing Mardi Gras revelers Saturday.

Several parades are planned for the first of two weekend Mardi Gras celebrations.

Five months earlier, the area was littered with lumber, rocks, sand, furniture and other debris washed ashore by Ike's powerful storm surge.

Longtime Galveston residents as well as visitors said they came as a show of support for Galveston, which was heavily damaged by Ike.

In addition to floats decorated in the festive Mardi Gras colors of yellow, green and purple, some made it a point to recall Ike and its destruction.

One float was decorated with the blue tarp material that is still covering hundreds of roofs in the area.

The Seawall area is undergoing massive reconstruction efforts, after Ike's storm surge put the longstanding protective barrier in danger of collapsing under the force of another storm.

The West End of the island, unprotected by the seawall, took catastrophic damage and is still recovering, as is the Bluewater Highway between Galveston and Freeport.