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If you take a stroll down Perkins Road the day before this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and gaze up into the trees, you’ll see more than a few beads still hanging like bejeweled Spanish moss fading slowly in the sun. Some are from last year’s parade, others are even older.

But don’t be too quick to start wailing (again) on the guys at the Department of Public Works. Turns out leftover beads in the trees are not necessarily DPW’s problem. “Anything on a power line or near one must be handled by Entergy,” DPW’s David Guillory says.

But it’s not all Entergy’s fault, either.

The power company only removes beads from power lines that pose a safety risk. They don’t remove beads from cable or telephone lines.

“It would take a lot of man hours to remove every bead from power lines,” Jeff Holeman of Entergy says.

And what about bead-strewn trees that aren’t near power lines?

If the tree lies in a city-parish right-of-way, then the DPW would technically be responsible for keeping them free of debris. But as it stands, DPW only removes beads if there is a blatant safety hazard.

Beads left hanging in trees on private property may be even less likely to get cleaned up.

“People usually don’t volunteer to get out there and clean,” says Ellen Broussard, a barista at Perks Coffee & Tea. “I’ve never seen anybody in the trees.”