Krewe of Endymion

Usually, the Krewe of Endymion, a super-krewe with celebrity guests and tandem floats nearly as long as a city block, rolls Saturday night before Fat Tuesday. This year, due to rain, the Ball went on as scheduled but the parade was moved to Sunday. We’d been out on the sidewalk since after 11 am, seen 4 parades already, but when the route was changed to St. Charles rather than mid-City rolling down Canal, we found the energy to end the evening with the super-krewe double whammy of Bacchus and Endymion.

Krewe of Okeanos

The Krewe of Okeanos was founded in 1949 by some Ninth Ward businessmen to bring a Carnival parade back to their neighborhood’s main drag, St. Claude Ave, though it now rolls Uptown. Named for the Greek God of oceans and lush valleys, the krewe has over 250 riders and rolled 19 floats depicting this year’s theme of “Children’s Fantasies.” The King was Garth Gilpin and the marshal was Vince Vance, whose moving song and video “I Am New Orleans,” marked the 5 year anniversary of Katrina.

Krewe of Morpheus

Founded in 2000 and named for the god of dreams, Krewe of Morpheus is a quickly growing co-ed krewe that caps the 3 parade Friday night extravaganza like a climactic burst of fireworks. The theme this year was, “Morpheus Sings a Tune,” and featured floats of Elton John, Elvis and Michael Jackson among others. Membership is open and the 500 or so members get together several times throughout the year for social gatherings and fundraisers.

Knights of Chaos

The Knights of Chaos is one of the city’s newer krewes. Founded in 2000, their satirical floats are fashioned by fantastic float makers – Royal Artists. Their name comes from the Greek word meaning, “A great confusion out of which a supreme being created all life.” This year’s theme was, “Chaos Eats Out, No Reservations” and though much of the humor is bawdy, the krewe is very family-centered.