Like the krewes of Choctaw and Cleopatra this past year, the Krewe of Alla will relocate next year from its home for the past few decades on the Westbank to the Uptown parade route in an effort to retain members, according to a report by our partners at WWL-TV.
Members of Zulu parade down St. Charles Ave. Mardi Gras day. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
With the final day of Carnival mostly spared by rain yet again, the Krewe of Zulu greeted Uptown crowds early, followed by the Krewe of Rex’s presentation of “All Creatures Great and Small” to close out Fat Tuesday.
The Krewe of Rex “Dinosaur” float rolls on St. Charles Avenue. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
The Mystic Krewe of Nyx Captain’s float rolls on Magazine Street on Wednesday evening. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
The Krewe of Ancient Druids “Consultant” float turns onto Magazine Street on Wednesday evening. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
The Krewe of Ancient Druids teased a number of other parade groups with its “Phobias” theme and the Mystic Krewe of Nyx reveled in cinematic takes on “What a Girl Wants” Wednesday night, as Carnival parading on the Uptown New Orleans route resumed after its week off. Continue reading »
The Knights of King Arthur’s Queen Guinevere, Pam Dean Goodard, smiles as she prepares throw a toy football into the Napoleon Avenue crowd. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
The Krewe of Carrollton and Knights of King Arthur rolled Sunday afternoon on the Uptown route.
A member of the Krewe of Carrollton on the “Day at the Jazzfest” float tosses beads into the St. Charles Avenue crowd. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
The Phunny Phorty Phellows prepare to leave from the streetcar barn on Willow on their Twelfth Night ride through Uptown New Orleans. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
With champagne, confetti and an array of audacious costumes, the Phunny Phorty Phellows made their annual St. Charles Avenue streetcar ride Sunday evening to herald the start of the 2013 Carnival season.
Confetti flies from the windows of the Phunny Phorty Phellows streetcar on Willow Street as the crowds clamor for beads. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Article by Craig Giesecke, for UptownMessenger.com
Organizers of the new Krewe of Freret are pushing ahead with plans to roll their first parade during the coming Carnival season, remaining optimistic even though a recently-approved 2013 parade calendar does not yet include them. Continue reading »
With the Mardi Gras schedule rearranged to accommodate a Super Bowl weekend in the middle, float-sharing logistics are forcing the Westbank’s Krewe of Choctaw to move to the traditional Uptown route, starting on Napoleon at Tchoupitoulas at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, according to a newsletter from krewe leaders.
The Taylor Playground was selected for the $15,000 donation from the Pro Bono Publico Foundation because it sits close to Rex’s den on South Claiborne Avenue, according to our partners at WWL-TV.
An aggrieved mother’s heart-rending tale of drunken cruelty to her young daughter on the upper Magazine Street section of the Muses parade has drawn nearly 400 responses in 24 hours. Outraged at the brutal behavior of the college-aged parade goers, readers quickly began volunteering to send their own Muses shoes to the broken-hearted child, and the Krewe of Muses itself reassembled this morning “give her a little of the Muses parade she missed.”
Maya Rodriguez of our reporting partners at WWL was at the celebration:
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
Although it did rain at times during Mardi Gras 2012, it certainly didn’t dampen the spirit of one of the best Carnivals of all time.
The hotels were full, the crowds were huge, the parades may have been the best ever, millions of throws filled the air, the publicity was almost all positive and it sent forth a clear message: Metro New Orleans is back, better than ever. Continue reading »
Police seized four handguns within three hours along a two-block stretch of St. Charles Avenue near Eighth Street during the parades on Fat Tuesday, and a man was carjacked at gunpoint several blocks away later that evening, authorities said. Continue reading »
This map shows six weapons cases reported by NOPD on Fat Tuesday along the parade routes, including a cluster of four near Seventh and Eighth streets. (via NOPD.com)
The sun sets over St. Charles Avenue after the end of Carnival. (Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Jean-Paul Villere
Each season’s close arrives inevitably, and no party ends without some amount of waste. At Mardi Gras, “the world’s biggest free party” as my old man used to say, the amount of refuse generated can absolutely stagger the synapses. Until you witness the end of Fat Tuesday on St. Charles Avenue as the sunset breaks into dusk, you can only imagine. The caucophonous whir of hand-labored rakes amid clean-up banter, flashing hazard lights, and heavy equipment shoveling all the gras doo to where? Throws often attain second and third lives, but those are what’s caught. What gets trampled underfoot will likely be set adrift on a garbage barge near you. Continue reading »
Cecile Tebo
She meanders into the coffee shop on a Saturday morning, three days before Mardi Gras. She is graced in a pink bob wig, sparkly purple-and-gold dark sunglasses, an orange-and-gold muumuu and beads dangling from her neck. She orders a very strong dark coffee, scans the room and takes a seat. For that moment, she is whoever she wants to be, hidden behind the costume she has created for that day. Continue reading »
Zulu's Witch Doctor rides on his signature float down St. Charles Ave. on Mardi Gras. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
The Rex title float "Lore of the Ancient Americas" travels down St. Charles Ave. Mardi Gras Day. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
On a beautiful Fat Tuesday, enthusiastic crowds met the Krewes of Zulu and Rex along their Uptown routes to close out the Carnival season. Continue reading »
Spectators admire the Krewe of Proteus title float, "Mythologica Aquatica," on Napoleon Avenue. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
A member of the Ducks of Dixieland shares a dance to the music of the Bone Tone Brass Band with a parade-goer on St. Charles Avenue near the beginning of the Krewe of Tucks parade. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Dressed in an extravagant winged costume, singer Cyndi Lauper throws beads from her float in the Krewe of Orpheus parade. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Each of the Lundi Gras parades this year did what they do best: The Krewe of Tucks served up raunchy, high-concept satire; the Krewe of Proteus evoked the grandeur of aquatic mythologies; and the Krewe of Orpheus produced its immensely popular spectacle of light and music. Continue reading »
Actor Will Farrell, the King of Bacchus, throws out cow bells to the crowd on Napoleon Ave. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
Thoth riders throw beads from the St. Charles Avenue float. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
Rachel Cannatta smiles moments after getting a giant blue monkey from a rider on a Thoth float. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
After Saturday’s cancellations, Uptown parade-goers were treated to a total of six parades Sunday — five in the morning, and the superkrewe Bacchus in the evening — with dense crowds along the entirety of each route. Continue reading »
A member of the Krewe of Chewbacchus, dressed as a spaceship, waits for the start of the parade near the Big Top on Clio as rain pours down. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Despite a steady, soaking rain Saturday night, the storm troopers and starfighters of the Krewe of Chewbacchus soldiered through the Lower Garden District, greeting spectators with far more than just a mere “Nanoo Nanoo.” Continue reading »
Actor Will Ferrell, who will reign as Bacchus XLIV in his first Mardi Gras parade on Sunday, received his crown at Children’s Hospital on Friday and then visited with patients and families there, according to our partners at WWL-TV.
The Krewe of Hermes' "Birth of Dionysus" float parts the crowd at Napoleon and Magazine. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
"Skeleton Crewe" leads Le Krewe d'Etat down Magazine St Friday night. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
Krewe of Morpheus paraders pass out throws on Magazine St. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
The Krewe of Hermes, Le Krewe d’Etat and the Krewe of Morpheus took Persian poetry, song-based satire and Louisiana’s best features for their themes as they rolled on the Uptown route Friday. Continue reading »