Uptown Messenger (https://uptownmessenger.com/category/mardi-gras/)
It’s Carnival time — and before we know it, we’ll be hitting the streets and enjoying parades. Something that goes great with parades, king cake and good times is that perfect beer or cocktail. It seems like nearly every brewery or distillery in town is getting in on the action and offering special Mardi Gras-inspired drinks. Here’s a list of Carnival offerings from a few breweries and distilleries to get you in the Mardi Gras mood. Broad Street Cider
2723 S. Broad St.
It’s Twelfth Night. I rushed out this morning to the King Cake Hub’s annual Carnival Kick Off Party, held this year at Zony Mash Beer Project. As I surveyed all the offerings, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of impact Mardi Gras will have on Covid and crime, both of which continue to break records. Carnival should be a record-breaking event as well. People are tired of being cooped up and want to celebrate.
While most New Orleanians are glad the parades will return to the streets for the 2022 Carnival season, the route changes will hurt many of the small businesses along Magazine Street. The 2022 routes, announced on Tuesday by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, eliminate the stretch of Magazine Street from Jefferson to Napoleon Avenue, where nine krewes begin their procession, and the longer stretch of Magazine from Henry Clay Avenue that the Krewe of Thoth commands. Instead, these parades will all line up at Napoleon and Prytania Street. The owners of Tito’s Ceviche and Pisco at 5015 Magazine were expecting the revenue from the parade-viewing crowds to help with their financial recovery from the pandemic. “Mardi Gras parades are a financial boost for us,” said Tito’s co-owner Tatiana Lock.
All Carnival krewes will see route changes for 2022 Mardi Gras, Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Tuesday (Dec. 21). The Magazine Street leg of many parade routes has been eliminated, she said at a press conference. Magazine Street — where neighbors gather for a more laid-back parade experience — is a favorite viewing spot for many Uptown residents. The changes are necessary, officials said, because of staff shortages in the city’s public safety agencies, including the police, emergency medical and fire departments.
Actor and director Josh Duhamel will reign as Bacchus LIII on Sunday, Feb. 27, Clark Brennan, captain of the Krewe of Bacchus, announced on Monday (Dec. 20).
“We at Bacchus are so excited to once again present a first-class parade with the legendary Josh Duhamel, a fabulous king who is already destined to be a crowd favorite,” Brennan said. “After a tough two years, the citizens of New Orleans and our visitors from around the world are ready to celebrate. We are also committed to supporting our local musicians who have been struggling.”
Duhamel starred in the Netflix original series “Jupiter’s Legacy” and made his directorial debut with “The Buddy Games” which he also co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in.
The Krewe of lris and Kern Studios announced last month the completion of the Krewe of lris dens at 3038 Earhart Blvd. and 1212 S. Roman St. To mark the grand opening, the Krewe of Iris and Kern Studios had planned to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony honoring the Krewe of Iris Dens on Monday (Sept. 13). Given the recent impact of Hurricane Ida on the krewe’s members and Louisiana home, the event has been postponed.
Both Nola Flora and Peony Fine Clothing on Magazine Street have incorporated large flowers in their storefront floats this Carnival season.
The already festive building at 4536 Magazine St. where Nola Flora is located is eye-catching enough, but it just got enhanced. Their storefront float theme is the shop’s name and it features giant flowers and a flowering vine going up the front and side of the building. Nola Flora is located on the Uptown parade route, so when parades were cancelled for this year, it was truly discouraging. But being good New Orleanians, they took the bad stuff that came their way, covered it in glitter and kept on going.
Every year since 2016, New Orleans-born-and-raised multimedia artist Courtney “Ceaux” Buckley, of Axiom Gallery on Freret Street, has been painting vibrant and detailed posters that depict the Black Mardi Gras experience. Through this annual poster series, Buckley said, he not only aims to provide a representation of the Black experience during Carnival season, but that he also intends to normalize it. “I don’t think we should always be presented like a big deal,” he said. “These things go on all the time, every year, it’s recurring.”
He adds that it is important for Black people from New Orleans to see representations of their culture in this more generalized way opposed to only packaged news stories and documentaries. Inspiration and communal Black experiences
Buckley said that the poster series was inspired by childhood photos lost in the levee failures after Hurricane Katrina.
It’s almost unimaginable to think of Uptown New Orleans without Mardi Gras parades in February. But with parades canceled due to COVID, residents have imagined a new tradition – creating wild and whimsical Yardi Gras house floats all over their neighborhoods. Yardi Gras, organized by the Krewe of House Floats, is a safe alternative to Mardi Gras parades in the coronavirus era. Instead of congregating in large groups to watch floats go by, people have decorated their own houses and turned the streets of New Orleans into a giant, stationary parade.
In normal times, the residents of the Touro, Milan, Bouligny and Uptown areas enjoy their easy access to Carnival parades, as reflected in their subkrewe’s theme: “Celebrating Uptown Parades.” Notable house floats include a “catnival” filled with feline puns on the 2200 block of Marengo Street and “Chewy’s Guide to the COVID Galaxy” on the 4700 block of Camp Stre
et, where giant letters spell out the much-needed message “DON’T PANIC!”
Residents are also working to help their neighbors in need and support the artists and musicians who make Mardi Gras possible.
Scriptura and Parcels & Post have both installed storefront floats to bring the Carnival spirit to Magazine Street. And together they represent some popular images in the house float craze: oversized flowers, king cakes, alligators and Dolly Parton.
Scriptura has a 25-year history at 5423 Magazine St. It started in just the front room, and gradually grew into the owners buying the building and taking over every square inch. They have their letterpress studio in the back, retail in the front and offices on the second floor.
Scriptura’s storefront “house float” is dedicated to the country music star because of the inspiration she provided during the difficulties of last year. The year 2020 was full of personal loss for the owners of Scriptura.
The pandemic may have upended the city’s traditional Mardi Gras plans, but the show must go on. Residents of the University Uptown neighborhood have raised the curtain on a fleet of Broadway-inspired house floats, following the theme of “2020: The Musical!” This Krewe of House Floats has stepped in during a Carnival season of no parades, no bars and no partying in the French Quarter after curfew.
“Krewe of House Floats has really been building the plane while flying it. The humor and the whimsy of our neighborhood really shows through with our theme,” said Jenna Rockett, captain of the University Uptown subkrewe. “It’s that ability to look around and laugh and make it work.”
