Evening star., 1939-11-26
The Travellers Notebook
New Orleans ConsuIts Weather History to Decide
When the Famed AzoIeo Trail Will Be in
Bloom, and Fixes Spring Fiesta Date

make this period one of the most
delightful times to visit. this pic
turesque section of the old South
land.
Open house will be held during
the New Orleans fiesta at five typi-
cal plantations and l8 magnificent
ante-bellum and Colonial homes.
Garden tours also are on the pro-
gram, which includes presentations
OF Negro spirituals, pageant and
ball in the mammoth municipal
auditorium and a large outdoor ex-
hibit of art in quaint Pirates alley
next to the old st. Luios Cathedral
One of the high lights of the fes-
tlval will be more ambitious Night
in Old New Orleans" when scenes
of long ago will be brought to life
again in the French quarter with
the cloppity-clop of horses drawing
carriages and billowy crinoline skirts.
The festival will be the next major
event the city will stage after the
beginning of Lent closes the Mardi
Gras, which will be held earlier
than usual next year because of
peculiarities in the calendar. The
Mardi Gras season opens January
81 and closes Shrove Tuesday, Feb
ruary 6, with general masking and
frivolity and grotesque and beauti-
full parades. Not to be confused
with Mardi Gras is the carnival sea-
son, which officially begins January
6 with ball of the Twelfth Night
Revelers, but, actually, opens De-
cember 26 with the ball of Les
Pierettes.
New Orleans, through the years,
has looked cordially on the throng
of visitors who bring their festive
spirit from far and near to the
Mardi Gras. But the carnival sea-
son. which in 1910 will include 40
balls, is a private affair. Many
thousands of dollars are spent on
these social entertainments, but ad-
mittance is strictly by invitation.
II X Il X
The National Park Service has
disclosed that in october, long after
the so-called summer season OF
travel ended, more than $4,000 per-
sons visited Americas "skyscraper'
Boulder Dam.
So far this year 661,154 tourist
noses were counted at the dam
hundreds of thousands making the
standard tour" This includes ar
elevator descent a tenth of a mile
into the structure which, it is esti-
mated, contains enough concrete tc
build a 5-foot sidewalk from the
North to the South Pole. At this
point, the sight-seers are still 1876
feet above the base of the dam, but
the elevator stops at tunnel that
pierces the mountain of man-made
stone holding back millions of tons
| Of water that comprise Lake Mea.
From tunnel near the base, the
visitors are led to the powerhouse
| over a ramp and here they look
upon more man-made miracles
batteries of electric generators 81
feet high.
AS thrilling river scene on the
American tourist map, Boulder Dam
is becoming known as the Niagara
Falls of the West
X
Termination of Bermuda service
of the Nieuw Amsterdam has beer
| followed by announcement that 9
United States liner, the President
Roosevelt, will institute weekly serv.
ice to the isles from New York or
December 16. Under present ar.
rangements, the President Roose.
welt will sail every Saturday for Ber-
muda, arriving there the following
Monday. Each Tuesday the inel
will sail for New York, with arriva
scheduled early on Thursdays. Only
the first-class accommodations o.
the ship will be sold.