Yay! the first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans rolls tonight, Saturday Feb 19th at 6:30 pm. It’s the Krewe du Vieux parade. I love it for its quaintness, individualism and satiric creativity. Because it winds its way through the narrow streets of the French Quarter, it also is the most traditionally presented with floats pulled by mules, human power, or even 3-wheeled bicycles (rather than the tractors or trucks of the larger well-known parades). Oh yah, did I also mention Krewe du Vieux is quite risque, too? To keep things child-friendly, I had to very selectively go through my photos from last year to find this small fuzzy subset. But I hope it gives you a bit of flavor of this fun, nighttime parade.

The Krewe du Vieux parade is such a treat and I can’t wait to see what they they have in store for this year. I’ve heard the theme is “25 Years Wasted” and the Grand Marshall is Don Marshall, Executive Director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. Beyond that bit of knowledge is the anticipation of the supporting themes that the participating sub-krewes will present https://www.kredite-vergleich.net/180-monate-laufzeit-kredit. You know that this all has to be about fun, with play-on-words names for the sub-krewes like C.R.U.D.E. (Committee to Revive Urban Decadent Entertainment), Drips and Discharges (the idea for the group began in the Emergency Room of Touro Infirmary), Mama Roux, Mystic Krewe of Spermes, T.O.K.I.N. (Totally Orgasmic Krewe of Intergalactic Ne’er-do-wells), Underwear, Rue de Bourbon, etc. In keeping with world and especially local events like the BP oil spill, the floats are touted to have themes like “TSA – The Good Hands People”, Crude Lubes NewOilands, DRIPILEAKS, Tokin Tea Party, David Semen’s Treme, and more that will probably make more sense when I see them, lol. In any case, I will be there to enjoy it all, and maybe even occasionally yell out “throw me something’ mista”. Oftentimes, outsiders think of Mardi Gras as just the single day festivity. But here in the New Orleans area, Mardi Gras is an entire holiday season. We like to have any excuse for a party. There will be lots of parades rolling between now and Fat Tuesday, March 8th. Com’on down (or up, or over, or whatever) and join the party!  

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