Festigals and Gay Pride Parades

Saturday was a day of drag with the Festigals and Gay Pride parades . Ladies first. Last year, Festigals’ Stiletto Stroll was my first ever parade as a Pussyfooter. It’s a sassy woman-centric second line through the French Quarter during the Festigals’ weekend getaway of yoga, empowerment and success panels, shopping, cooking demonstrations and networking events. This year, they added a new fundraiser, the Stiletto Sprint, benefitting the Breast Center at Ochsner Baptist. It’s a 2 block race on Royal Street in minimum 3″ heels – costumes encouraged. The supremely leggy Tammy McCormick Broussard won the race, passing superwoman and other superheroes in her sky-high red heels.

Pussyfooter – Baby Steps at Festigals

The Pussyfooters are a New Orleans dance troupe of over 100 women over-30 who perform in parades, second lines and events. Dressed in head to toe pink and orange, they are, “Majorettes from the Mothership sent here to help the party people get their groove on.” Founded in 2001, they promote the values of service and empowerment. The group just added several new members and one of them is me! I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to blog about parades when I’m not on the sidelines recording them as they pass, but I do feel I’m entering a whole new level of being a local.