If you’ve not been in New Orleans during Carnival Season, or if you’ve only been in the French Quarter, my guess is that your perception of Mardi Gras is similar to what mine was: raucous and rowdy, with wall to wall people sloshing around in “gutter brew.” Awesome! Sign me up!
Even my introduction to King Cake was inauspicious. It arrived home from a not in New Orleans grocery store with great fanfare. A slice for me. “So,” I said, “they took the leftover cinnamon rolls from Christmas and put frosting on them. Awesome.” I was not impressed. “That wasn’t a good one,” I was told.
My wife grew up in New Orleans and set out to rehabilitate Mardi Gras for me. I’ve since experienced Carnival Season and King Cake the right way. And that way is very different from my perceptions and first impressions.
The parades are mostly family-friendly, neighborhood events. Barbecue grills and coolers and tons of food. And tons of little kids. Toddlers look down from wooden bench seats (with seat belts and rails) perched atop step ladders. Entire blocks bordered with these ladder seats. It was nothing like I imagined. And real King Cake from a real bakery in New Orleans. Yum!! We always bring a few home with us.
This year I had the opportunity to be a substitute rider on a float in the Bacchus parade, and to be one of those throwing the beads. It was a wonderful, unique experience. The parade theme was Louisiana Fairs and Festivals, with each float featuring a different Louisiana fair or festival. Ours was the Rayne Frog Festival. We all wore frog onesie costumes with big heads and big googly frog eyes. It’s may not be easy being green, but it’s a lot of fun.
It’s impressive to see the logistics of 1600 guys getting dressed in all manner of colorful costumes in a convention center ballroom. The logistics of loading an estimated 40 tons of beads onto 32 floats happened earlier. I’m sure that was at least as impressive. Parade time. We got on and headed out.
The floats line up on Tchoupitoulas Street, then merge with the marching bands and other units at the corner of Napoleon Avenue where the parade officially starts. It was already dark when we arrived and as we turned the corner we were met with a wall of sound and a sea of waving arms all pleading “Throw me something mister!!”
Each float had its own themed signature throws: light-up beads, footballs, and frisbees, glass beads, plastic cups, and much more. The Bacchatality float, for example, threw kitchen utensils. Our float had stuffed frogs. And everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, wanted socks. Each float had their own themed socks. You couldn’t hear much over the thumping sound system or the din of the crowd, but everywhere you could hear “SOCKS!!!”
Tons of tour books and websites offer advice for maximizing the amount you catch. When we were about half-way through, I started wondering to myself how I decided who to throw to. It happens in a split second. I decided to pay attention. My observations were consistent with the advice everybody gives.
For me, the number one thing was eye contact. By far. Two reasons. First, I didn’t want to throw at someone who wasn’t expecting it. Every parade you will inevitably get hit with something you didn’t see coming. You just hope it isn’t hard or heavy, and that it doesn’t bruise or draw blood. Second, I wanted them to catch whatever it was that I threw. The throws cost actual money, and I didn’t like seeing something I threw get abandoned on the ground.
Second, be enthusiastic but not overly demanding. Waving arms and being animated is good. Look like you’re having fun out there. On some parts of the route, though, people would come right up to the side of the float and demand something in particular (usually socks). That was less good, and less productive (at least as far as I was concerned). Fortunately, we were high enough that people didn’t reach over the side to grab things from inside the float but it happens.
A couple more: Since my float was toward the end of the parade, I tried to throw to people who didn’t seem to have caught much by then. Also, and I know it’s trite and everybody falls for it and I know that kids on shoulders are brought up to the sides of the floats for this purpose, but it’s really hard not to hand a little kid something. That said, one of the best parts of the whole ride was handing a little girl sitting on her mother’s shoulders a stuffed frog and then watching her nearly break her mother’s collarbone with excitement hugging that frog.
The best part, though, was finding my wife at the side of the road and showering beads on her. I knew roughly where she would be standing and prepared a bunch of stuff to throw. When I saw her, I grabbed it all and hurled it in her direction.
And one tip if you ever have the opportunity to ride on a float: pace yourself. A friend riding in the position next to me warned me that it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement at the beginning, and then discover that you’ve thrown most everything before you’re halfway through. I’m glad he mentioned that because I definitely got caught up at the beginning. Once I noticed it happening, I would count to ten after throwing something before throwing the next thing. That was the only way I could pace myself. My very last throw, a strand of green glass beads, went over the side as we approached the finish. Perfect timing.
I’m so very thankful for the opportunity to ride. I would recommend it to anyone. It’s an all-day event from assembling at the Convention Center to getting our costumes fitted to lining up at the parade route to eating dinner with your float-mates to the parade itself. The people on the “frog float” were very friendly to us new guys and I enjoyed getting to know a couple of them. Very interesting and accomplished people.
Bacchus 2025: an awesome, unforgettable day.
0 Comments