mardi gras democratizes. today, there are crewes that are men women,, straight, gay, white, black, everything in between, and there are crewes with everyone in them. new orleans is a very diverse population and a very diverse city. in new orleans, we've got 32 parades that happens in that 12 day period. sometimes, our company for example, we will have as many as 150 floats on streets of the city at any one time. we move them, unload them. our job is not just to build the floats, but the logistics to put them together. every year to length does -- tulane does an economic impact study. $0.25 billion dollars impact. it is like having three super bowl's in our city every year. it fills our hotel room. all of our restaurant are full. it is a big party and a big celebration. our company is the biggest float building company. we build floats for celebrations all over the world. there are about either othe -- eight other companies in new orleans doing this job of building floats. ae carnival crewes have captain, and

>> mardi gras. >> mardi gras! >> mardi gras! i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ ♪ sha la la la sha la la la ♪ ♪ sha la la la sha la la la la la ♪ [ engine revving ] ♪ >> anthony: there are parts of america that are special. unique, unlike anywhere else. cultures all their own, kept close. much loved but largely misunderstood. ♪ the vast patchwork of salt water marshes, bayous, and prairie land that make up cajun country is one of those places. while the rest of the usa got stitched together by super highways, southwestern louisiana remained relatively isolated. i-10 wasn't completed until the 1970s, finally connecting this part of the state to new orleans, houston, and the rest of the nation. with that came chain restaurants, drive-thrus, and strip malls. but fear not, it's still magnificently weird. ♪ take for example, cajun mardi gras. ordinarily, i loathe the idea of mardi gras. any kind of gro

mobile is the birth place of mardi gras not new orleans. orleans has put their own superdrunk and naked spin on it. but if you are looking for family friendly, come to the original in mobile alabama. l craig roberts is a mobile historian, architect and author of the book mardi gras and mobile. we're meeting in the famous mardi gras park, a place i never heard of until today. >> just to be clear -- there was some controversy about this. but i say mardi gras started in mobile. >> there is no controversy. it's a simple fact of history. they first settled in 1702 and the first marty debra it was in 1703. and new orleans followed in 1718 and rio 11 years after that. >> take that new orleans. mardi gras and mobile is definitely one of the ways i'm giving my daughter some southern education. look, a picture of my oldest daughter at last year's parade. isn't she cute. takes after her mom. >> everybody heard of new orles mardi gras but since we're 16 biggest we don't get any respect because we have so much to show off and we're so proud of everythin

mardi gras new orleans is not commercial. it is against the law that any commercialization -- you will never see a sign that says budweiser or an attachment on a float, because that it's against the law. when you go to a mardi gras parade, you never see spectators. you see participants. people will become a part of the parade. school bands, people are dancing, having a good time. catching beads from people on the floats, so you have interaction there. mardi gras parades are very participatory. also the fact that it is all fun and by the people of new orleans. we do it for ourselves. we are happy to have people come and visit us. it is something we do for ourselves in new orleans. one thing i would love to add is that mardi gras is about families. i have seen members of these organizations, generations of families. on the streets of new orleans, you see generations come together. everybody comes together at one time and celebrates. they are eating, drinking, having a good time, but it is family. it is not bourbon street, which

. >> we are at mardi gras world where work is already underway for next year's mardi gras floats. gras world makes close for all around the city. been one family has working in the business for generations. >> welcome to carnival. mardi gras is a celebration at pretes christianity. it has been in new orleans since the very beginning. when i say christianity, you have the pagans and talk and alea. the one thing they did not want to grant -- to give up was there parties and celebrations. they had a very long tradition of celebrating the rights of rites of spring and i became carnival. -- and that became carnival. anywhere from early february to the middle of march, it depends on the date of easter. here at mardi gras world in new hum of, which is the mardi gras, where we design and and stage mostce of the mardi gras parades here new orleans. mardi gras, the tradition itself, came from france. it was a festival where people would have -- they would celebrate right before their fasting of the lent season. they were celebrate with costumes and have masks and trinkets that were given aw

this happened at the mardi gras fun cente in daytona beach last night on right called the sand blaster last night. the front car went off the rails and was left dangling from the track. two riders fell three stories to the ground. another rider desperately held on for help. >> female's still on the car but hanging off of it.

>> mardi gras. >> mardi gras!

it happened at the mardi gras fun center at daytona beach, the ont car going off the rails, dangling precariously. scnic, ams. two riders falling three stories to the ground. anotherat despy clinging to the ride. >> the female is still on the car but hanging off of it. someone's holding on, pulling her in. >> rescuersrantically working to get eight more riders down. >> we didn't want t anyone elseo fall out of the they had to be secured and taken out very carefully. >> reporter: firefighters used a ower truck to help stranded passengers. in all, six people were taken to the hospital. >> i have two ambuntory. afterhour, the heart-stopping rescue was over. >> everybody is out of the roller coaster and everybody's down from out here. >> landon was almost on that roller coaster. >> i actually tried to talk my 11-year-old brother into riding tit. he didn'ant to. we are so glad we didn't get on that ride. it was very scary. >> no word yet from the company unthat this ride but according to an instrument database that tracks rolle coasters, it had already been 35 years old back when it opene

this happened at the mardi gras fun cente in daytona beach last night on right called the sand blaster last night. the front car went off the rails and was left dangling from the track. two riders fell three stories to the ground. another rider desperately held on for help. >> female's still on the car but hanging off of it. someone is holding on, pulng herin. >> it looked like it flipped upside down like it was part ofe the >> firefighters used ladders to pull everybody else to safety. fire department officls say the two people who fell suffered traumatic injuries. the cause of the derailment is still under investigation. florida officials say anybody who should be held accountable will be held countable. >> that is just precarious and darn right scary f aot of people. hate seeing that. >>> what a spectacular day and a friday a, th amelia. it's just picture perfect. >> it doesn't get any better than this, gorgeous wit low humidity, plenty of sunshine. as we look to the weekend we'll keep it dry both saturday and sunday, but the heat and humidity will. a dry weekend, yes. i love that f

. >> we are at mardi gras

. >> reporter: the tragedy playing out thursday, at the mardi gras fun center on the daytona beach booardwalk. the san blaster coaster, that collins was riding with co-workers, flying off of the rails. two riders plummeting three stories down, including collins' friend amanda. >> all i could do was see her plunge to the ground. i remember her shouting up and knowing she was probably in pain. >> reporter: melissa collins says her injuries include nine broken ribs, final injuries and a fractured collarbone that required surgery. >> all my ribls a ribs are crus. >> reporter: the sanblaster passed state inspection. it has a history of problems, including damaged cars and excessive corrosion. >> we believe that a lawsuit is immine imminent. >> reporter: this attorney is representing collins and two others in the accident. >> we feel the failure occurred as a result of improper maintenance. >> reporter: the boardwalk amusement rides point to that day's state inspection, telling nbc news, the safety and well-being of our customers has always been our top priority. we continue to cooperate wi

. >> reporter: it happened at the mardi gras fun center in daytona beach on a ride called the sandblaster. the front car of the roller coaster going off the rails, dangling precariously. panicked screams. two riders falling three stories to the ground, another desperately clinging to the ride. >> female's still on the car, but hanging off of it. someone is holding on holding her in. >> it looked like it just flipped upside down like it was part of the ride. >> reporter: rescuers frantically working to get eight more riders down. >> we didn't want anyone else to fall out of the car so they had to be secured and taken out carefully. >> reporter: firefighters used a tower truck to help stranded passengers. >> one on the ground already and there's one in the bucket. >> reporter: in all six were taken to the hospital. >> i have two ambulatory that can ride sitting on the bench. >> reporter: after an hour, the heart-stopping rescue was over. >> everybody is out of the roller coaster. everybody is down from out here. >> reporter: landon metler was almost on that roller coaster. >> i actually tri

went all over the country into canada and asked people, tell us what you know about louisiana, mardi gras, food, new orleans was always in the mix, so a lot of people don't know louisiana, but they have new orleans. we have to work on cleaning up the french quarter. we had been talking about making the french quarter -- it is politics. there is not enough voters in the french quarter over the last 30 years. it has always been a battle, but if we can make it a state as said in a state responsibility because we know the french quarter is so important to tourism. for the city council and the mayor, they have obligations to the voters of new orleans, the tourists, if we turned it into a state asset park will be put park rangers on every corner and the concentration is made to keep all of those visitors safe, we can take it up a notch and make it a lot safer. katrina devastated the tourism industry as you saw. it was broadcast all over the world. south of here was underwater. those devastating picture stuck in the minds of people for many years. the tourism industry in new orleans did a great