Rolling Sunday: Femme Fatale, Carrollton and King Arthur close out the first Uptown parade weekend

The first weekend of Uptown parades closes out Sunday (Feb. 12) with three crowd-pleasing daytime parades: the enticing Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale, the homeboy Krewe of Carrollton and the regal King Arthur. One of the city’s newest parading krewes, the Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale, will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Sunday. The parades take the Uptown route, with Femme Fatale beginning on Napoleon Avenue and Magazine Street and Carrollton and King Arthur making a Magazine Street strut after starting on Magazine and Jefferson Avenue. Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale

The Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale, the first parading krewe founded by and for African-American women, is staging its ninth parade with about 1,000 riders on 20 floats by Kern Studios.

Rolling Saturday: Legion of Mars debuts, leading the way for Pontchartrain, Choctaw, Freret and Pygmalion

The first Saturday has long been very full parade day, with five krewes and their accompanying bands and dancers keeping the Uptown route lively from early afternoon until late evening. Now it’s even livelier. A new parade, the Legion of Mars, debuts this year, making the number of parades an even half-dozen. The krewe made up of military members, veterans and first-responders has previously paraded with the Krewe of Freret and with the Krewe of Alla. This year, for the first time, it has a parade of its own, leading the way on the first Saturday of Uptown parades.

Rolling tonight: Oshun, Cleopatra, Alla kick off the Uptown parade season

Carnival is about to get rolling. The Uptown parade season begins tonight with the krewes of Oshun, Cleopatra and Alla on the St. Charles Avenue route. This is the first year since the 2020, right before the pandemic shutdown, that krewes are parading on their traditional Uptown routes. And this year the queen of Uptown’s first Friday, the Krewe of Cleopatra, celebrates its golden 5oth anniversary.

Rolling today: Zulu, Rex, truck parades

The key to a good Mardi Gras Day is getting up early. There is so much fun to be had — don’t miss a minute. And before you go out, put on a costume. It could just be a mask, a silly hat, a cape, something sparkly, feathers, glitter. Mardi Gras is not just a spectator event.

Rolling today: Krewe of Iris and Krewe of Tucks

The sun is expected to shine on today’s Uptown parades, Iris and Tucks. The National Weather Service attributes the clear, dry weather to “a deep layer ridge axis and associated negative vorticity advection,” but we believe it’s the Krewe of Iris’ special relationship with the goddess of the skies. During the Krewe of Tucks parade, however, expect a steady rain of toilet paper over the route. Temperatures will be cooler than average, with predicted highs only in the upper 50s. Krewe of Iris
The Krewe of Iris, founded in 1917 and parading since 1959, is the oldest and largest of the women’s krewes.