Remember, Biloxi parade-goers, you have two parades with two routes this Mardi Gras.
Neptune, of course, kicks off the celebration with its nighttime parade on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with guest grand marshal Joe Horn, the colorful former Saints wide receiver who will be filling in for snowbound Weather Channel storm chaser Jim Cantore.
The Neptune parade will feature 50 units, including four marching bands and 17 colorfully lighted floats imported from Kern’s Mardi Gras World in New Orleans.  The route will roll through downtown Biloxi but turns westward on Howard Avenue when it passes the Saenger Theater and then north on Caillavet Street.
Captain of Neptune Kenny Beverin expects float riders to throw a million strands of beads during the Saturday parade, which is double the amount Neptune normally allots.
Then on Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day, get ready for another shower of beads when Gulf Coast Carnival Association, the granddaddy of all carnival groups, rolls its 1 p.m. parade of more than 120 units.
“Gulf Coast Carnival and the City of Biloxi are going to be the epicenter of Fat Tuesday on Mardi Gras Day,” said Gulf Coast Captain of Carnival Richard Schmidt. “We’re going to have great weather, we’re going to have more than a million strands of beads hitting the streets of Biloxi, we have a few new floats created by float builder Doug Blom, the royalty’s excited, and everybody’s fired up.
“People need to come early and stay late.”
See the routes for both parades
Things you should remember at the parades
See GCCA photos from last year
Webcasting: Parades, downtown plans and more
Biloxi Police Chief John Miller discusses this year’s Mardi Gras plans in this week’s City Desk webcast, and you can hear about the suggested improvements for downtown Biloxi from consultant Craig High, who made a presentation to City Council members on Tuesday.
Listen to the webcast
Read the downtown report
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Weekend preview: Plenty of parades and more
You’ll find a host of parades this weekend, along with concerts by Dwight Yoakam, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Michael McDonald, plus myriad other activities.
See the weekend lineup
Repair permits issued for Casino Magic site
By Jerry Creel, Community Development Director
This week in economic development, the department issued a repair permit for the interior of the former Casino Magic structure. The valuation for the permit is $6.3 million dollars, and includes the existing building/structure only. A repair permit for exterior repairs was issued earlier this year with a valuation of $4 Million dollars. Supplemental permits, with additional valuation will be issued in the next few days for the electrical, plumbing, mechanical and fire sprinkler systems.
Also this week, the former Hutter Building in the View Marche’ has been demolished and the contractor is removing the remaining rubble from the site to make room for the new View Marche’ Plaza.
News and notes
Bridge work: Motorists on the Popp’s Ferry Bridge will see intermittent lane closures Saturday morning as Public Works contractors make  repairs to the metal grating on the bridge’s draw.  Work should be complete around noon.  Meantime, to see a list of the unprecedented amount of work now underway on the streets of Biloxi, click here.
City Council: The next scheduled meeting of the Biloxi City Council will be Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 1:30 p.m.
DRC agenda: Two new cases and a review of an existing proposal are on the agenda for the Development Review Committee meeting next week. To see the agenda, click here.
