COVINGTON — After two months of negotiations, city officials Friday approved a scaled-back public Mardi Gras celebration for next weekend, but they served notice that they will have zero tolerance for rowdy behavior.

        The event will be Friday and Saturday in MainStrasse Village.

IF YOU GO

What: MainStrasse Village Association Mardi Gras 2002     When: Feb. 8 and 9. The entertainment tent in the Fifth Street parking lot opens at 6 p.m. each night, with the Rusty Griswolds performing Friday and Leroy Ellington & E Funk playing Saturday. Alcohol will be served in the tent from 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. each night, and musical entertainment will be from 8 p.m. to midnight. The tent closes at 12:30 a.m.     Where: In Covington's MainStrasse Village     Admission: $10 per night. Advance tickets can be purchased at MainStrasse bars and the MainStrasse Village Association office at 605 Philadelphia St. and can be exchanged for wristbands at booths at Sixth and Main Streets and at the entrance to the entertainment tent at Sixth and Bakewell Streets starting at 5 p.m. Feb. 8 and 9. Celebrants must be 21 or older to obtain a wristband.     Special features: Nightly parades starting at 7:30 p.m. at Sixth and Philadelphia Streets. The only street closures will be for the parades.

        City Manager Greg Jarvis said Covington officials “are taking every precaution” to avoid a repeat of the 2000 Mardi Gras.

        Two years ago, unseasonably warm weather and better promotion tripled the usual two-day crowd to a record 60,000 revelers and resulted in 53 arrests.

        Residents complained that drunken crowds vandalized their property, urinated in their back yards and on police cruisers and left litter. As a result, the event was canceled last year.

        This year, the sponsoring MainStrasse Village Association has agreed to limit the entertainment area; move the parade times up a half-hour each night, to 7:30 p.m.; increase the number of portable toilets; and keep all alcoholic drinks within bars, restaurants and an entertainment tent in the Fifth Street parking lot.

        Festival organizers also say they have insurance to cover any property damage caused by celebrants.

        Police Chief Tom Schonecker said his department will have “a minimum of 35 officers” at next weekend's celebration — about 15 more than at the 2000 Mardi Gras — and he will call in more if necessary.

        The officers will be paid double time, instead of the usual time-and-a-half, and the village association will reimburse the city for the officers' wages and benefits.

        Police will be throughout the festival area and surrounding neighborhoods, ready to cite anyone for underage drinking, open containers or public nudity. Anyone charged with public urination will be arrested, Chief Schonecker said.

        Four members of the Covington Fire Department also will be checking the bars and entertainment tent for crowding, Chief Joe Heringhaus said. An EMS crew will be based in the festival area.

        Celebrants 21 and older can buy wristbands at $10 per night that allow entrance into participating bars and the entertainment tent in the Fifth Street parking lot.

        About 25 to 30 portable toilets will be near the entertainment tent in the Fifth Street lot and there will be three to five toilets in front of each MainStrasse bar, said Gary Dirheimer, festival chairman for the MainStrasse Village Association.

        MainStrasse residents can obtain a permit to park in the lot on Philadelphia Street between Sixth and Seventh streets before next weekend.
       

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