I highly expect most people relate Mardi Gras to women baring their breasts in exchange for beads.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans consists of two weeks of parades ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Several parades happen around town daily during Mardi Gras season, many of them happening in the Uptown area. A schedule of the parades can be found here, and the locals told me about this genius app to track the whereabouts of the parades.
Because of the Super Bowl being hosted in New Orleans, the two weeks of parades had to be separated in between Super Bowl festivities. I was able to attend the first half of parades.
All in all, I went to SEVEN Mardi Gras Parades, because many of the parades in the Uptown area occur one after the other, it made the feat doable. My first parade was located in the French Quarter. We had a few hours to kill before the beginning of the parade so we headed to Pat O'Brien's for some Hurricanes....
I must have forgotten from my first visit how potent these suckers are, because I went from sober to drunk in a matter of an hour. But I didn't stop there, in true Bourbon Street fashion I got another drink for the road....
....and I went from drunk to DRUNKER fast. Once the parade began I was a bundle of energy, and because it was a walking parade (meaning no floats), I was able to interact with the parade participants. I even managed to snag a bead from a homeless man who heard me pouting because I wasn't able to catch a bead.
Only in a walking parade can you mingle with the bead throwers as much as this! I hate to admit this, but in my drunken state I kissed many men for beads. To semi-protect my already tainted reputation, it was social cheek kissing, ya know, the type of kissing that is COMPLETELY acceptable in Spain or Brazil. Ignore the fact I was not in Spain or Brazil.
The French Quarter parade was quite different from the Uptown parade. The Uptown Parades were more family driven, and with expert bead catchers! These people had grown up going to parades and knew the best spots, and were quite prepared by bringing food and chairs to relax in between floats. The parades were also different, in between every float they had marching bands and dance crews entertaining the spectators.
The smaller kids sat in wooden boxes secured on top of ladders, and I got the most beads when standing in front of one of the ladders! The ladders (and their inhabitants) were magnets for getting stuff thrown at them (as you can clearly see from the ground surrounding the ladders). The floats not only throw beads, but they throw stuffed animals, cups, Frisbee's, garters, tiaras, footballs, giant toothbrushes and combs, plastic swords (yep, caught one of these!), and even hula hoops!
Another Mardi Gras must is having a slice of King Cake in search of the tiny plastic baby hidden inside! King Cakes are like glorified Cinnabon's sprinkled with the Mardi Gras colors (purple, green and gold). The Southern custom is that the person who finds the plastic baby must buy the next king cake. Many locals have their favorite king cake, and most of them would say that Manny Randazzo has the best one. I don't have much to compare it to, but it was very tasty.
At the end of the seven parades we scored more beads than we could count. We didn't have to flash any boobies to earn them either.
Here are some of my tips.....
- Eye Contact works! Get the attention of someone on the float and point at them and make eye contact. Most of the time they will try throwing something at you.
- Like I said before, the ladders are magnets for beads. Often times the kids are too young to grab the stuff, and most times the trinkets fall to the ground. Most locals believe that snatching beads that have already fallen to the ground is bad luck, so the way I see it, standing in front of the ladders avoid beads going to waste.
Me on the right trying to catch some beads!
- Walk up to the floats (but not too close that you get run over!) and talk to the people. They usually hand out some good things this way.
- During the day parades go to an open area near the back, the macho guys on the float love throwing things as far as they can throw.
- Dance, wave your arms, smile and HAVE FUN!
I have to admit, I didn't know that catching beads would be so much fun! Mardi Gras definitely isn't just for ladies who want to flash random strangers!
Date Accomplished: January 27th, 2013
