Krewe of Chewbacchus Parade

Normally I attend Sparta and Pygmalion’s parades, but this year I opted for the 4th Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus parade. The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus describes itself as, “A Mardi Gras parade organization for the most revelrous Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, Mega-Geeks, Gamers, Cosplayers, Circuit Benders, Cryptozooligists, UFO Conspiracy Theorists, Mad Scientists and all the rest of Super Nerdom.”

It was a long walk from the Uptown parade route to the Marigny (about 4 miles) but it was fun passing all the children playing football and jumping rope with beads they’d just caught while we strolled through parade leftovers on St. Charles. When we arrived at the Chewbacchus route, it was immediately obvious that this was a crowd of mostly locals. Everyone stood respectfully on the curb and no one pushed past me to catch a throw. And the parade itself was pure New Orleans – full of music, creativity, pageantry, silliness and commentary.

This year’s theme was “The Wrath of Khan-ival.” There were robots, Lasercats, Ewoks, Ghostbusters and the Ladies of Star Trek. R2D2, the Death Star, the Enterprise and more were also represented. I think my favorite micro-krewe was the Rolling Elliots – men, women and children wearing red hoodies and riding bikes with E.T.s in their baskets. There was even one clever rider who dressed their E.T. in the wigged-get-up Gertie dressed E.T. in.

Chewbacchus prides itself on being green and sustainable, using recycled materials and no combustion engines.

After a computer crash and some very long (but awesome) days of work, I’m still scrambling to catch up on all these parades before they begin rolling again tonight. Please pardon the few photos left unlabeled and the brevity of the writing. Next up – Barkus and Alla!