LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – During Mardi Gras season, barricades can keep you from parking.

But thanks to parking garages and local businesses there are still areas where you can safely park and celebrate.

Because of Mardi Gras festivities, places where you would normally be allowed to park are now off limits.

Lafayette Police Public Information Officer Karl Ratcliff explains these parking hassles are for a good reason.

“We don’t want you parking and blocking a roadway or pulling up to a stop sign and parking,” he said, “because if we do have a medical emergency and we need to get our emergency vehicles into an area, we need to have that portion of the road that hasn’t been blocked, available for us to use.”

Festival de Mardi Gras chairman Randall Mann said this year, because of some changes, they lost part of their parking area

“Because of the changes in the parade route, we had to move some of our fair actually onto the parking area,” said Mann, “but we do have the two large gravel lots and the lot on the side between Cajun Field and Cajun Dome.”

If you can’t find parking at Cajun Field, there are still other options.

“There’s lots of areas around here that people can park and walk in,” said Mann, “there’s no admission fee to the festival, there’s a $10 parking charge.”

“The biggest thing is to be considerate and don’t block up any roadways to where if we need to get emergency personnel in or out where we can’t do so,” said Ratcliff.

So instead of paying a fine or risking your vehicle getting towed, Just find a safe place to park and enjoy your mardi gras festivities.