The promise from authorities for more security threatened to conflict with the city’s anything-goes sensibilities, and some changes were evident.

With the sun rising, people stumbled out of bars and saluted the trash collectors. A drunken couple shrieked and leaped onto sidewalks to escape from the cascade of waste as Nunez muttered about Bourbon Street’s “typical foolishness.”

There was never any question that Mardi Gras would go forward after the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans. But some revelers felt at least a hint of trepidation.