Mardi Gras

Episode 119: The Need for Beads

Louisiana is the only state where beads are known to dangle from oak trees. That phenomenon is especially common in New Orleans where the trees along certain avenues are nurtured by Carnival floats passing beneath their limbs late each winter.…

Shorter Routes, Bigger Krewes

Due to New Orleans’ smaller police force, another year of shortened parade routes continues until Rex rolls on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 21). Diversity prevails, from the 1,600-member Krewe of Bacchus parading with 33 animated super-floats and 30 marching bands (Feb.…

A World Inside Out

At a Glance Location Acadia Parish Flora Grooved flax, small palafoxia, shining indigo-bush Fauna Sabine map turtle, southern crawfish frog, Teche painted crawfish Three masked men climb atop a barn and pound their fists against its rusted roof. Below,…

Down by the Riverside

New Orleans La Société de Saint Anne parade revelers march the ashes of those who have died the past year to the Mississippi River on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans.

Carnival on the Lake

Like most South Louisiana cities, Lake Charles pulls out the stops for its annual Carnival festivities — more than 60 krewes and a host of related events. What makes this southwest city unique, however, is the annual gala that…

Explore the Artistry of the Rex Parade On June 22 in New Orleans

  NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Explore the artistry of the Rex Parade in New Orleans with the Louisiana State Museum as historians highlight both the historic imagery and contemporary processes, featuring newly discovered footage of the 1898 parade. The event…

Art for the People

Photos by Ryan Hodgeson-Rigsbee The Rex Organization’s motto, “Pro Bono Publico,” has special meaning to New Orleans Mardi Gras float designer and painter Caroline Thomas.…

A Royal Affair

Lake Charles flaunts Carnival royalty at the Mardi Gras Royal Gala

Mardi Gras Bound

  The Carnival season is in full swing in New Orleans, and now is the prime time to head to the Big Easy. The weekend before Mardi Gras is when parade-goers get to witness three of the most revered ‘super…

Let's Make Carnival Parades Better

By now practically every Carnival organization in the state with enough gumption to stage a parade also has a website, even if it is put together by a neighbor’s 14-year-old. Looking at what is online I have concluded that there…

What Chivalry Built

Mark Twain did not think much of the building in Baton Rouge that we refer to as the Old State Capitol. Twain called it one of the ugliest buildings on the Mississippi. The building, he said, was representative of Southern…

Great Louisiana Quiz - Mardis Gras Tribes

1. Pictured here are a group of kids who are part of the next generation of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians. Indian tribes can be seen several times during the year. Which is not one of those times? A.…

Mardi Gras Rhythms

There are two different strands to the music of Carnival in Louisiana - both can get you moving

Carnival in New Orleans

Pictured here are members of the Mondo Kayo Social and Marching Club on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans. If it is true that blondes have more fun, what can be assumed, from this picture, about people whose hair is pink…

Masquerade

As our carriage approached the building that houses the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu in Lake Charles, a group of masked revelers was waiting in the parking lot. When the mule stopped, the revelers approached us and began tossing…