Many of the parades roll after dark. The floats are illuminated by strings of lights. I've not seen any compact fluorescents yet but as incandescent bulbs become harder to find it's going to be interesting to see if they go to CFLs or LEDs in the future. Many of the parades already feature floats that have LED displays in a decorative fashion.
By the way, I'm no fan of CFL bulbs. Their light spectrum is horrible and they take a while to get up to full strength which leaves one fumbling in the dark for a few minutes and discourages turning them off as you leave a room. I'm hoping LEDs will take over from CFLs in the very near future.
While it can be hard to spot the beads and throws during the day, it becomes many times harder at night. Still, with many parades the throws are so thick in the air that you can simply raise your hands and come away with swag.
The desire for these plastic beads, plastic cups, aluminum doubloons, etc. can overtake one. Fortunately there are many places where you can sell your beads back for them to be repacked for the following year. Don't expect to make a fortune from this, it pays only pennies on the dollar (but it may be a better investment than Greek Government Bonds at the moment).
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Production Data
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Lens: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS
Processing: Lightroom 3.6
