BATON ROUGE - The annual Mid City Mardi Gras Parade rolled out as planned Sunday afternoon with a COVID added twist.

"Everyone needs something to smile about, everyone needs something to get excited about, and Mardi Gras is that," Symphony Malveaux with the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance said.

More than a dozen residents decorated their homes in a Mardi Gras style, along with some businesses, and handed out beads and other trinkets to passing cars and bicycle riders.

Krewe participants decorated their homes in collaboration with the theme of '2021 MASKparade.'

"Just having fun, trying to be safe, trying not to get too close with the corona,"  said Craig Papa, a Mid City resident.

The Mid City homeowner and his family held a Mardi Gras party in the front yard of his home on Camellia Ave.

Papa expressed that he even prefers the reverse parade rather than a traditional Mardi Gras parade.

"This is actually more fun. I'm with the people I want to be with. Not fighting the crowd again, it's all about safety." Papa said.

The Mid City Mardi Gras parade is one of the city's newest, with the first one held in 2018, after a year of planning.