The world-famous Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans will look a little bit different this year as it has been "cancelled" for the first time in more than 40 years thanks to coronavirus.
Authorities in the Big Easy have banned parades while all outdoor bars were closed from last Friday until Tuesday due to an "unacceptable" crowd on the famous Bourbon Street the previous weekend.
This all means it will be a far cry from the naked revelling and wild partying with the carnival that has been dubbed "the greatest show on Earth".
Each year a staggering 1.4 million people pack the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, to enjoy the city's iconic parades and festivities.
It dates back to 1699 and is believed to have started as a Christian holiday of excess before the period of Lent began, hence why the celebrations are concentrated on the two weeks before and through Shrove Tuesday.
But it has been transformed into a boozy and debauched event full of naked flesh.
Mardi Gras, which is French for Shrove Tuesday, is traditionally held the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday but in New Orleans, it has become a three-week party of colour and extravagant costumes.
Wild pics from past years show revellers flashing their breasts for beads on the infamous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.
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Swingers couple Bob and Tess Hannaford shared some advice on their website for anyone thinking of participating in this tradition.
It reads: "New Orleans is well known for Mardi Gras and a liberal amount of ‘flashing’.
"Here's what we've found to be true: If you flash someone quickly, you can have fun, act out a fantasy and not have to worry about getting into trouble.
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"You will get into trouble for taking your top completely off, dropping your pants – this is the quickest way to get into trouble."
Bob added: "It’s three weeks of celebration with lots of beads, boobs, drinking, parties."
Floats drive through the streets on numerous parades but this year they have sadly been empty.
But the people of New Orleans have made sure the city still looks colourful by making their homes into floats.
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Resident Megan Boudreaux said: "I decided, 'Well ok then, I'm going to decorate my house instead, pull some beads out of the attic and throw them at the neighbours.'"
She posted her idea on Twitter and more than 3,000 homes became decked out for the home-parade.
Since the first large-scale Mardi Gras rolled through New Orleans in 1857, this is just the 15th time the festival has been cancelled – and the first since 1979.
It was first scrapped for the American Civil War between 1862 and 1865. The festival was also cancelled as a response to white supremacist violence in 1875 and due to a Yellow Fever outbreak in 1879.
The 20th-century cancellations were caused by the First World War (1918), the Spanish Flu (1919), the Second World War (1942-1945), the Korean War in 1951 and a police strike in 1979.
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