BATON ROUGE - Visit Baton Rouge estimates that Baton Rouge's parade season draws tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

"Baton Rouge Mardi Gras used to be constrained to a couple neighborhoods and downtown, and now we've got a Mid City parade, we've got the Krewe of Oshun, who paraded earlier in the season in North Baton Rouge, and then, new this year, we have the Krewe of Shenandoah in South Baton Rouge," Laura Cating with Visit Baton Rouge said. New additions to Baton Rouge is making a big impact for sure."

Visitors stay in hotels, leading to an occupancy rate of more than 70% the two weekends before Fat Tuesday.

They eat and drink in restaurants and bars, with food sales accounting for more than half of what Baton Rouge visitors spent last year during Carnival season.

"They're spending dollars that are going back to help pay for roads, pay for schools, all of the different things that are good for our city," Cating said.

One business in particular that thrives during carnival season are bakeries. They specialize in making Louisiana's favorite Mardi Gras delicacy - king cake.

Over the last 40 years, Baton Rouge Mardi Gras celebrations have helped boost the economy. The first Krewe to roll the streets of Baton Rouge was the Krewe of Southdowns. They'll celebrate their 37th parade on Friday night.

"It's been the last couple of decades that we've seen Baton Rouge Mardi Gras up and coming," Cating said. "It's something that's growing over time and has potential to grow even more and so that's something that is encouraging and exciting."