Today is Mardi Gras, a day that would ordinarily include a huge parade in New Orleans, replete with elaborate costumes and traveling floats. In the midst of a still-raging pandemic, such an event would be ill-advised. However, the people of New Orleans have come up with a solid substitute: House floats.

When the parades and festivities that mark Carnival were canceled due to COVID-19 last fall, New Orleanians found another way to celebrate.

Within weeks, hundreds had signed up to decorate their homes as elaborate house floats to replace traditional parade floats.

Now, with just two weeks until Mardi Gras day, it’s hard not to walk through the city and find something to smile about, despite the ongoing pandemic and the toll it has exacted.

The Atlantic has a great collection of pictures, showing just how far folks are going.