If you think that Mardi Gras starts and ends in New Orleans, think again.It is celebrated throughout Louisiana.
Carnival begins on Twelfth Night, Jan. 6, 2008, and for the following four weeks until this year’s early Mardi Gras on Tuesday, Feb. 5, good times are found in just about every corner of Louisiana. There are many unique experiences to be enjoyed through the state, as Mardi Gras is the greatest free show on Earth.
That’s right, New Orleans is just one of dozens of cities throughout Louisiana with unique Mardi Gras celebrations – each offering visitors different sights, sounds, smells, and experiences.
The first parades roll in New Orleans on Jan. 19 and continue for four- and five-day weekends in the city. Elsewhere, there are parades in Lafayette, New Roads, Thibodaux, Baton Rouge, Houma, Mandeville, Slidell, suburban New Orleans, Shreveport, and Monroe. Each city has its own traditions, as Mardi Gras has put down roots and grown differently across the state.
“No matter where you go, a good time is guaranteed. Louisiana loves a good party and there’s no better party anywhere in the world than a Louisiana Mardi Gras,” said Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who oversees the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
“From Shreveport to Lafayette, Monroe to New Orleans, there is a carnival for you to enjoy. So grab your friends and family, and take a trip to Louisiana for Mardi Gras this season,” Landrieu said. “Come fall in love with Louisiana all over again.”
Here’s a look at the many faces of Louisiana Mardi Gras:
Alexandria
A new tradition in Mardi Gras, begun only in 1993, is Alexandria’s Mardi Gras, which has grown from 10 floats and four krewes (clubs) to 22 floats and 15 krewes. The parades roll Saturday, Feb. 2 in downtown Alexandria, and Sunday, Feb. 3 in mid-town Alexandria.
Baton Rouge’s largest and most popular parade is its 28th annual Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade that has grown from a couple of convertibles and a few enthusiastic marchers carrying a few plastic pink flamingos to a flamingo-themed festival featuring a very large parade, live music, food, and even a golf tournament. Mardi Gras season is announced by the mysterious overnight appearances of very large wooden pink flamingos in the capital city lakes.Known for political satire, this year’s theme is “Flamingo Phil Predicts.” The parade route includes an alcohol-free zone. It rolls at noon Saturday, Feb. 2 through the downtown streets of the capital city.
Six other parades roll between Jan. 19 and the Feb. 2 SpanishTown parade.
Mardi Gras in Eunice, Louisiana is a treat for many reasons including delicious Cajun food – and the “world’s largest king cake.” There are cooking demonstrations, a pig roast and offerings of “boudin,” a Cajun specialty sausage. There is also a wide array of Cajun and Zydeco musical performances, costume contests, and – as with most Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras celebrations – the Eunice Courir de Mardi Gras.
Houma, Louisiana, located in Southeast Louisiana – an hour’s drive west of New Orleans, is a beautiful blend of bayou scenery, plantations, and more than ten Mardi Gras parades.Like many other cities’ Mardi Gras festivities, Houma Mardi Gras offers visitors a packed schedule of Carnival events including balls, parades, and fun.
Houma boosts its festival “as the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in Louisiana.” Events include 12 parades spanning from Jan. 25 to Feb. 5.
On Mardi Gras, Feb. 5, a similar Courir de Mardi Gras celebration, you can head to Iota, Louisiana for the Tee-Mamou Celebration that includes the horseback riders, a parade, and street dancing. The festival runs from 8:30 a.m. until the early evening.
The capital of Cajun Louisiana, Lafayette offers two weekends of Mardi Gras events including a Mardi Gras Ball open to the public, community celebrations and many, many parades.
Le Festival de Mardi Gras a Lafayette, a four-day Mardi Gras weekend festival, offers much more than your typical parade. There is a carnival midway, live bands featuring Cajun and Zydeco music, and a costume contest and dance on downtown streets.
While most Mardi Gras balls are private, Lafayette’s Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Associations Pageant and Ball opens its pomp and splendor free charge to the public in the Heymann Performing Arts Center on Mardi Gras night.
Visit www.lafayettetravel.com for a full schedule of events. Click on “events and festivals,” then “Mardi Gras.”
Mamou
Brace yourself for an experience like no other in Mamou, Louisiana, the “Cajun music capital of the world,” located in Evangeline Parish northwest of Lafayette with easy access from Interstate 49.
Mamou’s famous “Courir de Mardi Gras” (Run of Mardi Gras) is rich in history and overflowing with excitement.This unique style of celebration dates to before the Civil War, and begins on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday (February 3) with the early morning Courir de Mardi Gras.The Courir entails a group of costumed community members riding through town on horseback in search of ingredients to eventually bring together for a community gumbo. The gumbo is usually cooked on Lundi Gras (February 4) in downtown Mamou, where there is a big street dance.
Mardi Gras was brought to Louisiana in 1699 by French explorer Iberville, who arrived on what is now New Orleans on the eve of Mardi Gras. In honor of the holiday, March 3, 1699, Iberville named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: “Mardi Gras Point”).
Mardi Gras remained an individually-celebrated holiday until 1857, when the Krewe of Comus was founded and saved Mardi Gras as a safe street festival. An 1872 visit by Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff of Russia coincided with the founding of the krewe of Rex and established Rex as the King of Carnival.
This year’s 52 parades in New Orleans begin Jan. 19 and culminate with 33 from Wednesday, Jan. 30 through Mardi Gras, Feb. 5, when this year’s Rex joins seven generations of Kings of Carnival to reign over the CrescentCity.
This small Louisiana town just outside Baton Rouge offers a family-friendly Mardi Gras with a charitable twist that the town markets as “the oldest Mardi Gras outside the city of New Orleans.”
The town’s two parades on Mardi Gras day – the Community Center Carnival parade and the New Roads Lions Carnival parade – allow visitors a combination of African-American celebration and the Lions Club parade that offers seats to the general public to benefit area charities.
The New Roads website proclaims, “New Roads is planning its greatest Mardi Gras in 86 years, with whimsical floats, high stepping marching bands and dance teams, resplendent royalty, tons of top-quality throws, comic maskers, great local cuisine, midway rides and a good dose of Creole hospitality for lagniappe.”
Mardi Gras in the Ark-La-Tex has grown into major parades on the streets of Shreveport and Bossier City. Balls begin Jan. 4 and parades roll on Jan. 26, Jan. 27, Feb. 2, 3 and 5 in this Northwest Louisiana city.The Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau has a Calendar of Events on its website: www.shreveport-bossier.org.In addition, the Ark-La-Tex Mardi Gras Museum has a full list of Mardi Gras events for the area, for every Krewe: www.mardigrasmuseum.org.
