Krewe of Chewbacchus Parade

The unofficial start of the Carnival parade season kicked off a week early this year as the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus parade moved to a week before Krewe du Vieux. Chewbacchus features Star Wars and other sci fi and spacey themes. I love the Elliots riding bikes with E.T.’s in their baskets. The Wonder Women were especially impressive this year and I loved the King Cake Babies who all fell into position with their arms and feet in the air. 

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 ‘tit Rex & Chewbacchus

While the giant Krewes of Sparta and Pygmalion floats rolled Uptown, we watched the miniature parade, ‘tit Rex, and the wonky and wonderful Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus parade Downtown. A reaction to the super Krewe parades, ‘tit Rex was inspired by the tradition of kids decorating shoeboxes and parading them through school. This was my first time making it across town in time for the parade and it was everything I’d heard. The crowds were huge and the floats were tiny, creative and often satirical.

Krewes of Iris and Tucks (and Endymion on TV)

It was another perfect day for parades, warm and sunny with a cool breeze. We arrived in time to see the end of the Krewe of Iris’ pretty parade and caught bands and dancers from Harney, Super Star Steppers, Mary D. Coghill, Xavier and McDonogh City Park Academy. Krewe of Tucks is a parade named for a bar that doesn’t exist anymore that features a giant toilet float and throws rolls of toilet paper. But, it’s great fun with stunning visuals like the neon foam monsters, the beaded corsets of Dames du Perlage, Kolossos (and their dancing sharks), the Star Wars-themed 501st Legion and dance troupes Disco Amigos, Muff-A-Lottas and Organ Grinders.

Krewes of Iris and Tucks Parades

Saturday was beautiful. Finally. A great day for parades. They started early with the women’s Krewe of Iris (est. 1917) having fun with their “Iris Rocks” theme. The Krewe of Tucks (founded in 1969 by a group of Loyola students) continued their toilet humor with their “Tucks Lives the Sportin’ Life” theme and throws like hand-decorated toilet brushes. I’m not normally a fan of bathroom humor but Tucks gets bigger and better every year and is one of the most colorful parades in every way.

Krewe of Chewbacchus Parade

Normally I attend Sparta and Pygmalion’s parades, but this year I opted for the 4th Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus parade. The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus describes itself as, “A Mardi Gras parade organization for the most revelrous Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, Mega-Geeks, Gamers, Cosplayers, Circuit Benders, Cryptozooligists, UFO Conspiracy Theorists, Mad Scientists and all the rest of Super Nerdom.”

It was a long walk from the Uptown parade route to the Marigny (about 4 miles) but it was fun passing all the children playing football and jumping rope with beads they’d just caught while we strolled through parade leftovers on St. Charles. When we arrived at the Chewbacchus route, it was immediately obvious that this was a crowd of mostly locals. Everyone stood respectfully on the curb and no one pushed past me to catch a throw. And the parade itself was pure New Orleans – full of music, creativity, pageantry, silliness and commentary.