Albany Mardi Gras festival celebrates 14th year | PHOTO GALLERY | VIDEO

ALBANY — With the runners in Saturday’s Albany Mararthon and Half-Marathon rested and ready to party, beneath a clear blue sky with temperatures in the mid-60s, the 14th annual Albany Mardi Gras celebration on the 100 block of Pine Avenue was set to generate some good old-fashioned fun.

“We are on,” declared Phil Cannon with the Better Albany Group, speaking from the bandstand at noon and officially kicking off the event.

Mobile viewers can see the Mardi Gras pet parade video here.

Cannon said the earliest Mardi Gras drew only 1,200 participants but grew steadily thereafter to its peak of some 50,000 in attendance three years ago. Since then, festival attendance has fallen backward just bit, Cannon said, mostly because of some tough breaks weatherwise.

Mobile users can see the photo gallery here.

“In 2013, in was really cold all day, and so we took a big hit in attendance,” Cannon said. “We were doing all right last year until the sun went down and the temperature dropped.”

Faced with reduced funds for 2015, organizers were forced to set an early 8:30 p.m. closing time for the event and cut back on the number of musical attractions and security.

“It’s our hope that this year’s Mardi Gras attracts enough people that maybe next year we can restore it to what it was,” Cannon said.

But even in its “downsized” form, with plenty of good music, merchandise and food vendors — not to mention the classic pet parade, water attractions and bouncy toys for kids — Mardi Gras still packs a respectable entertainment punch for the $5 adult admission fee.

Saturday was the first Albany Mardi Gras for Shannon Holt of Dothan, Ala., and her children, Molly and Seth, though her fiance, Paul Desin of Albany, had attended “a few times.”

“We watched the (marathon) runners cross the finish line,” Holt said, “and that was fun. We came to the festival for the bands and the music, and so the kids could shop a little. There’s not a lot of things you can do anymore that are family friendly — where you can just go out and have a good time.”

Michelle Wingard of Oxford ran her personal best of 3:55.02 in the Albany Marathon Saturday, and afterward she and her husband Jason wanted to “reward” their children, Luke, 9, and Rebecca, 12, for being so patient.

“We always try to do some fun things after I run,” Michelle Wingard said.

By early evening, the 100 block of Pine was teeming with revelers, many polishing off their best dance moves.

“This is more like it; this is the kind of crowd we need for Mardi Gras to be successful,” businessman/volunteer Sam Shugart said.