Yardi Gras stories: ‘Pure Imagination’ fuels house floats in Broadmoor and Fontainebleau

 

Last year ago, the unimaginable happened: February passed in New Orleans with no Carnival parades. With parades cancelled due to Covid, there were no massive floats rolling the street, no masses of revelers standing elbow-to-elbow and hollering to have some beads thrown their way. 

So New Orleanians had to use their own imagination and come up with a safer way to celebrate. What they came up with was Yardi Gras: a new tradition where revelers decorated their own homes as elaborate floats. This year, Mardi Gras is back — but Yardi Gras survives as well, along with the spirit of imagination and ingenuity it represents. While there are fewer homes participating in the Krewe of House Floats this year, there’s still plenty of creativity on display, as seen in the neighborhoods of Broadmoor and Fontainebleau.

Yardi Gras stories: University area house floats celebrate ‘Les Bons Temps’

 

When three smaller subkrewes of the Krewe of House Floats —University, Freret and St. Charles Avenue — melded into one, an anything-goes theme evolved, which in turn became “Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler,” said subkrewe captain Jenna Rockett. With no constraints to follow, krewe members improvised their individual whims. The Bergers of State Street decided to lean into their name by turning their house into a burger joint. The family’s “State Street Soda Shoppe” house float serves up a giant balcony burger, fries, a milkshake and an ice cream sundae. It’s a theme that delights the Bergers’ two young daughters, Lillian and Grace.

New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University announces full schedule for inaugural literary celebration (sponsored)

The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University announced today its much-anticipated lineup and complete schedule for its inaugural event, which will take place March 10-12, on Tulane University’s Uptown campus. The book festival is free and open to the public.

Among the national bestselling authors participating are Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, John Grisham, Imani Perry, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Bakari Sellers, Don Lemon, Jon Meacham, Charles Blow, Clint Smith, Cleo Wade, Sarah M. Broom and David Brooks. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Man shot to death in Costco parking lot after domestic dispute, the NOPD says

A man was found dead in the Costco parking lot on Sunday evening (Feb. 20) after a domestic dispute turned deadly, the New Orleans Police Department reported. At around 7 p.m., Joseph Sandoval was shot in the parking lot at 3900 Dublin St. He was on the ground with a gunshot wound when Second District officers arrived, and medical responders pronounced him dead at the scene. Sandoval was 44.