Since the New Year’s violence, service workers across the French Quarter have navigated a strange dissonance, grappling with the emotional and financial fallout of an assault that hit so close to home while putting on a smile to do what they do so well: Show tourists a good time in a romanticized city that could live or die by their spending.

Super Bowl host New Orleans is no stranger to thousands of out-of-town revelers descending upon the city, and authorities there did not balk when asked if they would be greasing their poles. They pointed out that an annual pole-greasing party hosted by a hotel in the French Quarter is how the city kicks off Mardi Gras.

Super Bowl LIX festivities are in full swing in New Orleans ahead of the big game on Feb. 9.Why it matters: Follow us this week for updates as we party hop and go to the official NFL events. The big picture: The Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.