diff --git a/meshmode/discretization/connection/direct.py b/meshmode/discretization/connection/direct.py
index 9eb0fae8a..a84b2282b 100644
--- a/meshmode/discretization/connection/direct.py
+++ b/meshmode/discretization/connection/direct.py
@@ -47,7 +47,13 @@
 
 def _reshape_and_preserve_tags(
         actx: ArrayContext, ary: ArrayT, new_shape: Tuple[int, ...]) -> ArrayT:
-    return actx.tag(ary.tags, ary.reshape(new_shape))
+    try:
+        tags = ary.tags
+    except AttributeError:
+        # 'ary' might not have a 'tags' attribute (e.g., in case of an np.ndarray)
+        return ary.reshape(new_shape)
+    else:
+        return actx.tag(tags, ary.reshape(new_shape))
 
 
 # {{{ interpolation batch