Easter Parades 2016

Rain threatened the parades all day but the  33rd annual Chris Owens French Quarter Easter Parade and the Gay Easter Parade benefiting Food for Friends rolled as scheduled. Renowned burlesque dancer and club owner Chris Owens still performs nightly (despite rumors of her being in her 80’s) and hosts a fun, fabulous parade. Both parades offer bands, colorful floats, beads, stuffed animals, candy, seersucker suits, floral dresses and elaborately decorated Easter hats. The Gay Easter Parade has also raised nearly a quarter million  for charity over the past 14 years.

Easter Parades and Hats!

Easter in New Orleans means many things to many people. It’s just as “normal” to see seersucker suits and Sunday-best as to see egg-colored wigs and hats piled high with decorations. But Easter in NOLA definitely means parades. Though I missed the earlier Historic French Quarter Easter Parade, we caught the 32nd annual Chris Owens French Quarter Easter Parade and the Gay Easter Parade benefitting the NO/AIDS Task Force’s Food for Friends program. A renowned burlesque dancer and club owner since the early 1960′s, Chris Owens still performs nightly (despite rumors of her being in her early 80’s) and she throws a heck of a parade.