By The Associated Press

February 03, 2010, 1:33PM

Mardi Gras falls on a Sunday this year.

The city of the New Orleans Saints is filling up with expatriates and others ahead of the Super Bowl, many looking to cast off a legacy of football futility and natural disaster — others just looking to party down in one of the world’s greatest party towns.

“We’re gearing up for Sunday just like Mardi Gras day,” said Earl Bernhardt, a bar owner in the French Quarter. “We’re staffing just like we do for Mardi Gras, and if the Saints win, we won’t close at all. We’ll stay open as long as people are standing.”

After 43 years in existence, the Saints will make their Super Bowl debut in Miami on Sunday, facing the favored Indianapolis Colts.

Fans from most cities would be headed to South Florida about now. But for ex-pat New Orleanians, the game is triggering a pilgrimage home. And for everybody back in town, the party’s already started.

A few are taking the week off in the countdown to game day. Others are punching the clock, but not getting much done. Saints jerseys, “Who Dat?” T-shirts and black and gold beads are the uniform everywhere you go.

Read more of the story here.

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