Mazatlán’s Mardi Gras is the 3rd largest Carnival in the world, after Rio and New Orleans, with celebrations going for each year for over a century. Thousands of costumed revellers throng the streets and beaches while visitors and locals scream, sing, shout and dance amid confetti and ribbons. This year the event took place from February 7-12 and included Samba dancers from Brazil. Mazatlán’s Carnival is a week long, multi-event affair with parades, floats, fancy dress balls, live music, folklore, dance, entertainment and costumes depicting indigenous traditions, where people of all ages gather to join in celebration. The first recorded Carnival in town was in 1848 but it wasn’t until 50
years later that the event took its present form and the first Carnival Queen was crowned. Mazatlán knows how to party. It’s a wonderful paradox that, five days before Lent, in a time of meditation and religious ceremonies when the pleasures of the flesh are put on hold, people literally fill the streets, letting their hair down in a non-stop party that ends the day before Ash Wednesday. This year’s Carnival drew record tourist numbers exceeding 350,000, demonstrating that Mazatlán continues to diversity and strengthen its tourism product and offerings far beyond its world-class beaches to its strong cultural portfolio. 6