With more Mardi Gras krewes moving to the St. Charles Avenue route, a series of proposals would return the celebration to its neighborhood routes by “bolstering an alternative major parade route in Mid-City, working with Jefferson and the other parishes to coordinate regional parade schedules, adjusting regulations to allow neighborhoods to hold much smaller Mardi Gras Krewe processions, and encouraging those neighborhoods to form ‘Krewes of their own’, something between marching clubs and small float processions,” according to a recent article by Christoper Tidmore for the Louisiana Weekly.
Jefferson Parish officials would be enthusiastic about having a night or two more focused on their parades, Tidmore writes, suggesting that they might help with some Orleans Parish parade-route enforcement on other nights in exchange, a potentially attractive option as the multi-million dollar bill for the federal NOPD consent decree looms.
The proposals may be timely, as City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell spends the year brainstorming potential changes to the city’s Mardi Gras ordinances.
This is a wonderful idea. I would LOVE to see more neighborhood involvement in parades! It would give the neighborhoods a real chance to show-off, get involved…could be a great crime-reducer as well.
It’s about time. I have written tomes on this topic and my hopes are now higher than ever. The Algiers’ Krewe moves to St Charles was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Isn’t it time to take thirty Krewes and distribute them to these new and populous areas (some are not really “new”): Mid-City needs at least 10 parades; St Claude/Basin should have at leaset six or seven, from Press to the Superdome; St Anthony/Gentilly, from UNO to the Fairgrounds is awesome and hungry for six-eight parades; the truck Krewes need to be split between Mid-City and Uptown, with Uptown moving toward the Convention Center and Mid-City moving toward the Superdome. Both routes can and should be used on Mardi Gras Day. Thank you JEEEZZZZZZZ!