The Party’s (Almost) Over for New Orleans’ Carnival : Mardi Gras: Tough economic times are forcing change on the glitzy event. This year, corporate sponsors and “official” products may help finance the effort.

Tough times are forcing change on the glitzy, mad carnival that is Mardi Gras.

For years, exclusive groups known as krewes made hosting the street party a point of civic pride.

Now, struggling to finance the gaudy parades and lavish balls expected to draw more than a million revelers to the city on Feb. 15, some may plug corporate sponsors on their parade floats.

“We’ve avoided it as long as possible. Now we’re at the point of doing it or losing more parades. It’s need, not greed,” said one krewe captain, who according to tradition must remain anonymous until the group’s ball.

And to pay for police and other services, the city is exploring a plan to license and sell “official” products during what has always been an extremely unofficial festival.

The Mardi Gras tradition dates back to 1827, when a band of exuberant Creoles just back from their studies in Paris donned fantastic costumes and startled the city with a street procession.

It has since become a huge tourist draw, generating $567.7 million in spending last year.

The spectacle builds toward Fat Tuesday, when parades wind into the city’s French Quarter laden with celebrities and masked riders who fling trinkets into a forest of outstretched hands.

But all those toys and tinsel cost a pretty penny.

About 32,000 people rode in parades last year, spending an average of $440 each for beads, stuffed animals, underwear, and other items to toss to the crowds, according to economist Jim McLain.

In addition, krewe membership dues average $300, and although some krewes are raising them, they do so at their peril, said Arthur Hardy, publisher of the Mardi Gras Guide, an annual publication that describes floats and parade routes.

Two-thirds of the approximately 100 krewes traditionally raised revenue through bingo halls, but attendance and earnings dropped sharply when casinos opened on Mississippi’s nearby Gulf Coast.

The city, meanwhile, is considering defraying its costs with official T-shirts, gadgets and drinks.

“I look at every proposal that can help us make money and I take most of them,” Mayor Sidney Barthelemy said.

An advisory committee of krewe captains rejected the city’s proposal to market Mardis Gras, but others say the commercialization of Carnival is a foregone conclusion.

“If it can be done the right way, I think krewes will go along with it,” Hardy said.

“There will always be Carnival. Right now, people are just waiting to see what it will be like.”