Everywhere else it’s just Tuesday, but in New Orleans it’s the explosive fireworks finale of over a month of festivities ending in 7 straight days of parades. There are plenty of Uptown parades on Fat Tuesday – the Krewe of Zulu and Krewe of Rex are 2 of the city’s oldest, but after attending dozens of parades (and me dancing with the Pussyfooters in 2 of them), for us – Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French) is for wandering the French Quarter and Marigny taking in all the silly, imaginative and/or beautiful costumes people create. For my husband, it’s his favorite day of the year and he can spend weeks conceiving and preparing his ideas. This year was his most spectacular creation – the St. Louis Cathedral. Continue reading
Tag Archives: carnival
Krewe Boheme Parade 2022
Krewe Boheme debuted in 2019 and rolled again in 2020, but the Bywater/Marigny/French Quarter walking parade had to sit last year out when Carnival parades were cancelled for the pandemic. Established by artists, the krewe’s symbol is a green fairy – the nickname for absinthe, a super-intoxicating liqueur. Continue reading
House Floats – Marigny
If you read my last post of the fabulous costumes of Fat Tuesday, you’ve already seen a few of the house floats in the Marigny, the neighborhood across Esplanade from the French Quarter. “Yardi Gras,” the 2021 socially distanced version of Mardi Gras, has turned houses and businesses throughout the city (and even the world) into parade floats. The grassroots Krewe of House Floats promoted this safe parade concept, encouraging people to use local businesses and artists to help decorate their places, or go DIY, then register on their map. The spectacular displays by float artists like Kern Studios have turned one St. Charles Ave. yard into a circus and another into a jurassic park – with top hats and masques. Continue reading
House Floats – St. Charles Ave.
St. Charles is famous in part for being the grand avenue the Uptown parades roll during Carnival in New Orleans. This time of year, the live-oak-and-manor-home lined avenue is normally crowded with ladder chairs topped with children, ice chests and barbecues, and throngs of festively dressed parade-goers snatching beads, toys and cups from the air as massive, colorful floats roll by carrying dozens of Krewe members scattering throws. Mardi Gras is an act of love and festivity with the members of the various Krewes paying for everything from the throws, floats, bands and dancers to the police and clean-up. But COVID interrupted that act of generosity.
Not to be undone, the city has embraced “Yardi Gras.” Thousands of homes and businesses throughout the city (and even the world) are decorated as parade floats. Continue reading