After the Rex organization launched its first Mardi Gras parade in 1872, the founders came up with a clever way to attract a crowd. They sent out posters bearing a declaration from the king about his one-day reign over New Orleans, beckoning visitors to join the celebration. The edicts, posted in train stations and reproduced in newspapers, were a Rex promotional mainstay for about 50 years and an early tourism marketing effort for the city, until they were replaced by a single declaration delivered to the mayor on Twelfth Night, the first day of the Carnival season.