Gay Easter Parade 2022

Though the Chris Owens Easter Parade is visually stunning, the Gay Easter Parade takes Easter bonnets to a whole new level. Miss National Apollo 2022, Gia GiaVanni’s hat was as wide as the car that rolled her through the French Quarter. I ran into 2 people wearing my own fabulous pink and orange hat. 

Dancers and walking krewes included Mystic Krewe of P.U.E.W.C., Lords of Leather, Flaming Flagetts, Big Easy Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Krewe of Goddesses. When it comes to this parade, photos are truly worth thousands of words – so enjoy!

Southern Decadence 2019

Southern Decadence – 5 days of costumes, parties and parades celebrating the LGBTQ community – attracts over 210,000 people annually and creates a $250 million economic impact making it one of the top 5 annual events in New Orleans. It’s also one of my favorite walking parades of the year, an explosion of vibrant colors and fanciful costumes. This year’s theme was Fruit Salad: Come Toss a Good Time which led to a Carmen Miranda inspired spectacle.

Pride Parade

After the food and music of the Creole Tomato Fest and the fun spectacle of the Naked Bike Parade, we were ready for the festive and fabulous Pride Parade. Every year, the parade grows adding more dancers, floats and sponsors like Walgreen’s, Cox, Lyft, and Absolut. Bounce legend Big Freedia joined the LGBTQ groups, community organizations, churches and more rolling through the French Quarter.

Southern Decadence 2018

Southern Decadence is 5 days of costumes, parties and parades celebrating the LGBT community. Marking their 47th year, an M.C. reminded the crowd the event has been around since being gay was illegal.  Now, the long weekend attracts over 210,000 people and creates a $250 million economic impact – making it one of the top 5 annual events in New Orleans.

Good weather held out for most of the Sunday parade, save one fairly brief and cooling shower. Drag queens, dance troupes, pride groups and other revelers took to the streets in costumes

Gay Pride Parade 2018

After ending food and music at the Creole Tomato Fest and the fun spectacle of the Naked Bike Parade, we were primed for the Gay Pride Parade. Bigger and longer every year, the parade includes LGBTQ groups, community organizations, churches and more. Dance and walking krewes included Roux La La, Sirens, High Quality, Krewe des Fleur, Krewe of Goddesses, Crescent City Fae, AUX, NOLA Cherry Bombs, Disco Amigos and the Krewe of the Rolling Elvi. I worked up a sweat dancing when One Shot Brass Band got stuck on from of us for a while. I also spotted singing, fiddling spitfire, Amanda Shaw, and the always moving Dancing Man 504.

There were over 20 parade floats as well as drag queens and walking groups

Southern Decadence 2017

Southern Decadence is a 5-day weekend of costumes, parties and parades celebrating the LGBT community that attracts over 200,000 people and creates a nearly $200 million economic impact. The Sunday parade had remarkably good weather, upper 80’s and sunny. Drag queens, dance troupes, pride groups and other revelers took to the streets in costumes accented with this year’s signature neon colors.

Gay Pride Parade 2017

Occurring just after the Naked Bike Ride and the Creole Tomato Fest, the Gay Pride Parade seems to be growing each year. In addition to the many LGBT groups, there were representatives from rugby, track club and kickball teams, the teachers union, Planned Parenthood and community organizations like churches and a suicide prevention center. And of course there were drag queens and walking groups from Big Easy Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Mystic Krewe of the Lords of Leather and the New Orleans Girls of Leather. 

Southern Decadence 2016

Southern Decadence is a 5-day weekend of costumes, parties and parades celebrating the LGBT community. The events attract over 150,000 people and create a nearly $200 million economic impact. The Sunday parade is always the highlight for me. Drag queens, dance troupes, pride groups and other revelers worked with the “Decadence Takes The World” theme in costumes accented with red, white, blue and purple.

Gay Pride Parade 2016

Gay Pride is usually one of the smaller parades in New Orleans compared with our bevy of Mardi Gras, Halloween, Christmas, etc. parades. But this year was different owing mostly to the recent tragic events in Orlando. This year, there were reportedly over 2500 people riding, walking or dancing in the parade as well as many floats. I happy-cry a lot at our parades, overwhelmed with the beauty, the music and the joy of it all. But as the first float rolled past, I sad-cried. The float had been left riderless in memory of the shooting victims and was followed by dozens of people holding up photos and names of those lost. It was a beautiful tribute that cut right to my heart. I’d rather remember their names and faces than the murderer’s. The rest of the parade featured glittery rainbow-festooned fabulousness that I’m sorry I don’t have time to elaborate on – but enjoy the photos!

Krewe du Vieux & Krewedelusion (R-rated)

At 30 years old, Krewe du Vieux is certainly the bawdiest of Carnival season’s parades. Though the satire is generally pointed in the direction of local politics and concerns, the floats often feature a giant penis or the occasional vagina. A spin-off of the Krewe of Clones (1978-85), the Krewe du Vieux parade was born of a scheduling clash with the city’s hosting of Super Bowl XX that cancelled the Clones’ parade that year. A few of the Clones’ 32 Subkrewes decided to march anyway. By the following year, Krewe of Clones had disbanded and reformed into Krewe du Vieux and rolled with a funeral as their theme to give birth to the new tradition.