Carnival season is officially over. This year we had glorious weather on the weekends and crap weather through the week. We also had two folks run over by tandem floats, which is rare. There was also a shooting, which is not so rare. But I promised I would talk about some of my favorite parades and talk I will.
The weekend after Chewbacchus we headed back into town for Krewe du Vieux and krewedelusion. The first time we saw Krewe du Vieux was on their thirtieth anniversary, XXX, which was the theme. What we were to learn is that Krewe de Vieux is always X-rated with this year being no exception.
The theme this year, appropriate on many levels, was Errection 2020. Like a lot of the smaller, more local, parades Krewe du Vieux is made up of sub krewes, which include names like: Krewe of C.R.U.D.E. and Krewe of SPANK. Each krewe can interpret the overall theme as they so choose.
They are old school, with mule drawn floats and jazz bands. In their words they believe in “…exposing the world to the true nature of Mardi Gras – and exposing ourselves to the world.”
Marching on the third Saturday before Mardi Gras the Krewe du Vieux can be counted on to go far beyond the bounds of propriety. Floats included a giant vagina being penetrated by an equally giant penis, a river of sperm, and various other graphic displays of physical sexuality.
Yes, we took our four year old. Ours was far from the only kid in the crowd and, honestly, I am ready and willing to answer any questions the floats may inspire. Welcome to New Orleans.
Krewedelusion rolls directly after Krewe du Vieux. At eleven years old it is a relatively young parade. Its focus is satirical and political with this year’s theme being “Think Locally, Act Globally”. Once again it is a krewe made up of subkrewes with the most well known being the TrashFormers who recycle while marching. Every year one of the throws includes their Royal Decree. This year they issued a change order.
A couple of other, more child friendly, parades include Barkus and ‘tit Rəx. ‘Tit Rəx is a microkrewe with floats made of shoeboxes. We stumbled upon this one when we went to our first Krewe du Vieux parade. Around only since 2009 it came to be in direct contrast to the massive, Uptown, superkrewes.
Barkus we’ve been following since the mid-ninties when it it was just costumed dogs and their equally costumed human companions prancing through the Quarter. The parade has exploded since then into an all-day affair that starts with a festival at Louis Armstrong park.
While I have fond memories of Sundays spent Uptown and have had a fabulous time watching some of the superkrewes* these are the NOLA parades I look forward to every season.
*One of my favorite parade memories is being in New Orleas on Fat Tuesday just as the Macarena craze hit. My first exposure to the song was hearing it blasted from a float inspiring tens of thousands of people along St. Charles Avenue to burst into the dance. Cool.