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.

Krewe of Morpheus

Founded in 2000 and named for the god of dreams, Krewe of Morpheus is a quickly growing co-ed krewe that caps the 3 parade Friday night extravaganza like a climactic burst of fireworks. The theme this year was, “Morpheus Sings a Tune,” and featured floats of Elton John, Elvis and Michael Jackson among others. Membership is open and the 500 or so members get together several times throughout the year for social gatherings and fundraisers.

Krewe of Ancient Druids Parade

The spookiest Krewe, the Ancient Druids, rolled through Uptown Wednesday night. Since it was a school night and only one krewe paraded, the crowds were smaller, but they put on a fairly big show with a funky medieval tone. Between the masked, Merlin-capped riders and the giant horses, I half expected someone to bring me a pint of ale.

Halloween and the Saints – Boo Dat!

Apparently, Halloween is the third largest holiday in New Orleans, but don’t quote me on that as I got the info from a bartender finishing his shift at Rawhide, not the Guinness World Book of Records. But Guinness was here to count how many people wore costumes to the Saints game Sunday. With almost 18,000 people in costumes – mostly black and gold, we set the record for the largest costume party.