So earlier this week there was a big kerfuffle, as WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported (and so did WWL) that the Krewe of Zeus, the oldest Mardi Gras parade organization in Jefferson Parish, was going to cancel its parade this year. Zeus typically rides in Metairie on the night of Lundi Gras.

The report was vigorously denied on Wednesday. Brian Landry, the logistics and communications director for Zeus and also for the Krewe of Hera, which is Jefferson’s newest parade (there’s a joint Zeus-Hera celebration planned on Lundi Gras afternoon), was on Facebook with the following…

As I contemplate the damage done today to Krewe ZeusKrewe of Hera Lundi Fest – Lundi Gras and our partners by false unchecked Rumors!!

I am amazed how quickly an Untruth could spread. While a Truth like Passport to Lundi Gras and a Free celebration for Jefferson Parish citizens could receive such sparse Media attention.

When did stories of people doing good works become Un Newsworthy?

The Times-Picayune then reported that Jefferson Parish’s parade coordinator asked Zeus to provide an insurance certificate, which they hadn’t provided to that point. But that same official told the paper Zeus was “good” with the parish, an indication that whatever paperwork they had been lacking had been rectified.

So it appears the revelries are ready for Lundi Gras.

But then today comes something even more interesting, courtesy of Landry’s Facebook…

Latest reports name the unnamed source on the false reports as none other than…. Arthur Hardy!!

I knew there would be backlash when we opted out of an Ad in his magazine.

But it seems a bit outrageous for a proclaimed lover and profiteer of Carnival to fabricate a story in an attempt to destroy the oldest and newest Krewes in Metairie!!

Whether Landry has it right or not about Hardy, we’ve a donnybrook on our hands down in JP.

Arthur Hardy, for the unwashed, is the publisher of Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide, a fairly well-regarded specialty publication covering New Orleans’ carnival festivities. He also serves as WDSU’s on-air Mardi Gras expert. So if in fact Hardy was the culprit in creating a false story about a Zeus cancellation…well. Let’s just say the thunderbolts from Olympus will make for quite a show.

We haven’t seen so juicy a Mardi Gras kerfuffle since Dorothy Mae Taylor was around.