Krewe of Pontchartrain 2022

Friday night parades rolled in bitterly cold weather so we were all happy Saturday’s 5-parade day was sunny and in the upper 50’s. After a 2-year absence, it was wonderful seeing sunlit St.Charles lined with families, neighbors and visitors wearing purple, green and gold.

The Krewe of Pontchartrain  started the day with the Big Easy Rollergirls, school bands, dancers,

Krewe of Tucks Parade 2020

Kids love the irreverently fun, toilet-themed Krewe of Tucks parade.  Throws include hand-decorated scrub brushes and plungers as well as other potty-humored beads, toys and poop-shaped lollipops. The rolls of purple, green and gold toilet paper are traditionally tossed over the arching live oak bows that line St. Charles, leaving the route strewn with light-catching streamers rippling in the breeze.

Pontchartrain & Choctaw Parades 2020

After 3 parades Friday night, Saturday was a 5-parade day starting with  the Krewe of Pontchartrain. The weather couldn’t have been more glorious for parading – 65, crisp and sunny – which made for thick crowds along St.Charles. The Big Easy Rollergirls led the way for school bands, dancers, baton twirlers, pom girls and plenty of floats. Tulane University’s band dazzled with lofty high-kicks.

Krewe of Tucks 2019

Focused around toilet humor, the Krewe of Tucks parade is irreverently fun and kids love it.  Throws include hand-decorated plungers and scrub brushes and other potty-humored beads and toys. This year’s 50th anniversary theme was “Tucks Gets Sick” so there were also bandaid slap bracelets, stethoscopes and other medical goodies. Rolls of purple, green and gold toilet paper are always tossed over the arching live oak bows, leaving the route strewn with streamers. It’s actually kinda beautiful.

Tucks always puts on a great show with the animal-bikes of  Kolossos, the beaded corsets of Dames de Perlage and the Laissez Boys reclining in their motorized loungers, cocktails in hand.

Krewes of Pontchartrain & Choctaw Parades

Saturday was a 5 parade day starting with  the Krewe of Pontchartrain. The weather was pretty perfect (75, sunny) for the school bands, dancers, baton twirlers and pom girls as well as the women of Dance Connection, Muff-A-Lottas and Big Easy RollerGirls. Dee Snider threw beads from his perch high atop a float filled with riders sporting his signature long blonde hair. Best known as the frontman for Twisted Sister, I have always felt grateful for his testimony before Congress 30 years ago where he fought for our First Amendment rights.

Krewe of Choctaw followed with the NOLA Showgirls wearing flea de lis headpieces topped with a spray of ostrich feathers. But the stars of Choctaw were the many impressive school bands and girls from local dance schools.

Krewe of Cleopatra & Saturday Parades

Again, I have little time to blog but I did want to share some photos from the Krewes of Cleopatra, Pontchartrain, Choctaw, Sparta and Pygmalion. Krewe of Cleopatra was my first parade this year dancing with the Pussyfooters. I always love dancing with the “Pink Army” but I had an extra pep in my step this time.

Krewe of Tucks Parade 2017

Krewe of Tucks has 1,300 riders, both male and female, and centers around toilets and bathroom humor. Prize throws are hand-decorated toilet scrub brushes and plungers. The weather was perfect and the throws were plenty. Though I enjoyed watching a woman hanging upside down and retrieving giant beads from the mouth of a shark coming out of a toilet (PHOTO below), my favorite float was easily Grand Marshal Frenchy’s. Not only had he hand-painted the float himself with the portraits of local icons, he was actually creating a painting while he rolled down the route. On a more misty note, – the Captain’s float was left empty for the recently departed Bobby Reichert.

Krewes of Pontchartrain & Choctaw

It’s Carnival time and the parades are in full swing. It was a balmy beautiful day for the Krewes of Pontchartrain and Choctaw so St. Charles was crowded with families, coolers and ladder chairs. Krewe of Pontchartrain (established 1975 and named for Lake Pontchartrain) is a tractor-drawn parade with an open door policy allowing even tourists to ride with them.  The Big Easy Rollergirls got things “rolling” along with  dance teams including  The Dance Connection, Xtreme Voltage Dance Team, Dance Innovation and the Muff-A-Lottas (all pictured below).

Krewes of Druid and Nyx Parades

Wednesday was the Krewe of Ancient Druids (established 1998) parade followed by the newest women’s parade – the Mystic Krewe of Nyx in their 3rd year. I’m scrambling to manage my schedule so apologies for not doing links to other sites, photo labels and descriptions of the evening. Since I can’t label the photos (or narrow them down much), here are the dance teams and bands I photographed at Druids: Chalmette, Shine Time, John Ehret, Helen Cox, Gris Gris Strut, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sci Academy, Sophie B. wright, Xtreme Voltage and Superstar Steppers.

St. Joseph’s Day and Italian Parade

After parading ourselves silly through Carnival season then St. Patrick’s week, St. Joseph’s Day was the next citywide celebration in New Orleans. Celebrated predominantly in parts of Sicily, St. Joseph (of Mary and Joseph fame) is credited with ending a famine during the Middle Ages by answering the city’s prayers for rain. Since then, the people of Sicily and their New Orleanian ancestors have been preparing an annual feast on elaborate altars, turning no one away from the bounty and giving the leftovers to the indigent. Like with St. Patrick and his festivities, the vast majority of New Orleanians are neither Irish nor Italian, but they know a good party when they see it.