Happy Mardi Gras!!

I have participated in many parades in my lifetime, but never one like the parade I was in today!  Today was the first day of Mardi Gras, and the refuge was participating in a local parade in the small town of Ocean Springs, MS. 

All the floats, bands, etc. began lining up along the bay shortly after 10:00 this morning, even though the parade didn’t begin until 1:00.  The set up area was shrouded in fog, but that was a good thing.  It kept the temperature down.  The forecast was for a nice warm, sunny day.

We had the bay and bridge to Biloxi on one side, and a large residence on the other.  Folks had started to line the parade route many hours before the parade was to begin.

Our crew began to assemble our float, and put on Mardi Gras attire.  Every one of the 80 some floats had loud music blasting from huge speakers.  I don’t know much about Mardi Gras, but apparently one of the traditions is to consume large amounts of alcohol, and many participants and observers were busy partaking.  We, of course, were in government vehicles so our beverage of choice was chilled water.  Boy, did we need it by the end of the parade!

All up and down the shore everyone was getting their rigs ready for the parade.  That includes getting the huge supply of beads and other trinkets ready for throwing out to the crowd. 

We put on our hats and masks and got our beads ready.  Our own special Mississippi sandhill crane also practiced her Mardi Gras dance steps.  :)  It turned out that the parade route was about three miles long!  By the time the parade began, the sun was blazing down, and after about a mile, I had to take off the mask.  I was sweating bullets under the sun, and believe me, it was a work out tossing all those beads and other trinkets.  I certainly got my bending down exercises taken care of today.

The crowds lining the route were enormous for a small town!  And they are very insistent about receiving the freebees we were tossing.  At one point, we had to stop for a few minutes, and the crowd surged toward the float and began reaching in and grabbing things off of the float and tow vehicle.  Unbelievable!  They’re plastic beads, for Pete’s sake, and it was the adults doing this!  One guy even came up to me to plead that his poor mother couldn’t make it to the parade, but she loved frogs and could I give him some beads with a frog for her?  I’m telling you, it was a little bazaar.  As you can see, quite a few folks were decked out  in unusual attire as well.  I guess this revelry will go on until Fat Tuesday at parades all over the area.  I’m thinking maybe one of these Mardi Gras parades was enough for me…

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy