More than 200 students decorated in green, gold and purple

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Green, gold and purple beads decorated the necks of more than 200 students at Saint Mary Catholic School in Wilmington for the annual Mardi Gras celebration.

The fun comes the day before the school transitions into the Lenten season. For more than 15 years, St. Mary’s students have paraded around the downtown campus and, for the past few years, the school has continued the tradition in memory of the late School Manager Clifton Lively, who was from Louisiana.

Principal Joyce Price says the students look forward to this day each year.

“They’ve been inside for religious lessons learning about Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and lent,” said Price. “We’ll have all kinds of different activities during the season of lent which begins tomorrow.”

Price says Mardi Gras is not a religious celebration limited to Tuesday but is actually a season that began right after Christmas.

If you travel to New Orleans known as Mardi Gras City, parades down iconic Bourbon Street started January 6th and end Tuesday night.