Mardi Gras Mobile area
Did you know Mobile was the first city in the US to celebrate Mardi Gras? Bet you thought New Orleans was where it all began. Wrong - Mobile started celebrating Mardi Gras in 1703 which is 15 years before New Orleans was even founded. The celebration while not as well known as New Orleans is none the less a major part of life in the city and surrounding areas. Let me explain a little bit.
The city of Mobile has multiple parade routes - as in at least 8 different ones. From a listing we had, there are at least 40 parades over 18 days. On top of that, I know of 25 parades in the suburbs of the Eastern Shore (including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach). Plus I heard of at least one parade in Pensacola, FL. Oh, and by the way, it is a school holiday. Many of the parades are the work of an individual krewe, but some are organized by local cities or local organizations and thus you see floats from the vet clinic down the street or a local restaurant. Jeff and I made it to 5 different parades.
We started our season at the Knights of Ecor Rouge in Fairhope. It was a night parade so we drove up to Fairhope with my mom and brother had a nice dinner and then staked out our spot on the main street. We were ready. We had our chairs and our bags to hold our throws. Fairhope has a reputation for being generous with their throws. Since the parade went down our part of the route twice that was definitely true. We had filled up a string backpack with our goodies plus were being weighed down with beads.
So what do they throw? Beads, small stuffed animals, frisbees, plastic cups, frozen decorated donuts, miscellaneous small toys - think little footballs, balls, stress ball type toys and most importantly moon pies. I have heard that some Mobile parades have unique throws - believe I heard one throws ice cream novelties. Below are some pictures from Fairhope
We had a break before our next parade in Mobile. We did some research and heard the Mystics of Time was a really good parade. It was on a Saturday at 5:45 pm so we planned an excursion to Mobile. We found a parking garage early in the parade route parked and walked down. We thought we had less than an hour wait - unfortunately, it was longer. Word on the street was that a float had a flat tire so there was a 45-minute delay. Boy were we tired of standing by the time the parade started. However, I have to admit some of the fun was before the parade. Across the street, there was a bar with a balcony and people on it who were throwing beads and little footballs and ribbons to the crowd below. Before long there were footballs flying back and forth across the street and all sorts of impromptu fun going on. It was a really good parade as advertised. By chance, we ended up by some friends of a krewe member. They had signs to let him know where they were. The response from that float was a deluge of things - handfuls being dumped in the area which was good because Jeff and I weren't doing too good catching things there! What we had not realized is this krewe is known for their "dragons". Think Chinese style dragon that's been automated. The only people are those tossing throws as it zigs and zags down the street. Some blew smoke out the nostrils. They were impressive. Oh, the high school marching bands were impressive too. You see they did not just march down the street, oh no everyone had a gimmick or special performance up their sleeves. On cue we had them running to the spectators saying hi and giving beads or suddenly doing some impressive dance moves - especially when it was the tuba line! Pictures from Mystics of Time parade
Since we were now in the very heart of Mardi Gras season, the very next day we went to the local parade. It is only in its 2nd year and still very local. We are out a way out from downtown, so the Fort Morgan parade is heavily golf carts with some floats pulled by pick up trucks. It is low key and fun in a different way then the big parades and this one is open to all. By chance, pirates was a common theme this year and Jeff enjoyed yelling at them with his best pirate interpretation.
We skipped the Monday parades and made plans for the Gulf Shores parade on Tuesday which started at 10am. Gulf Shores is the oldest parade in the area and it was large and popular. We had planned on going to a pancake breakfast, but the line was out the door so a change of plans. We set our chairs up close to the starting point and made a McDonalds run. When the parade started we were not disappointed. It was a good parade.
We ended our Mardi Gras parade season with the smallest parade of the year for us as least. Lulu's boat parade started at the Wharf and went up the Inter-coastal waterway to Lulu's where they were having a big birthday/Mardi Gras party. We decided to go to the Wharf to see the beginning. While driving there we saw people setting up along the Inter-coastal to watch and since the Wharf tends towards the yacht category of boats we were excited. Well, we had trouble finding it at first. Decided these are boat people, they will all show up at the last minute so we got a drink and wandered around (yes it was perfectly legal). Then we found some boats - not yachts. They were numbered up to 10 but I think it was more like 6 boats, 3 of which were pontoon boats and 3 fishing boats (OK I could not afford a couple of them). Anyway, in true Mardi Gras and boater fashion they were decorated and ready to have a good time! They were all talking with the spectators and throwing beads at us from the dock. Then when they started one boat was going along the shoreline a little and throwing beads to us. It was a lot of fun although it does make one miss our old boat some.
The city of Mobile has multiple parade routes - as in at least 8 different ones. From a listing we had, there are at least 40 parades over 18 days. On top of that, I know of 25 parades in the suburbs of the Eastern Shore (including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach). Plus I heard of at least one parade in Pensacola, FL. Oh, and by the way, it is a school holiday. Many of the parades are the work of an individual krewe, but some are organized by local cities or local organizations and thus you see floats from the vet clinic down the street or a local restaurant. Jeff and I made it to 5 different parades.
We started our season at the Knights of Ecor Rouge in Fairhope. It was a night parade so we drove up to Fairhope with my mom and brother had a nice dinner and then staked out our spot on the main street. We were ready. We had our chairs and our bags to hold our throws. Fairhope has a reputation for being generous with their throws. Since the parade went down our part of the route twice that was definitely true. We had filled up a string backpack with our goodies plus were being weighed down with beads.
So what do they throw? Beads, small stuffed animals, frisbees, plastic cups, frozen decorated donuts, miscellaneous small toys - think little footballs, balls, stress ball type toys and most importantly moon pies. I have heard that some Mobile parades have unique throws - believe I heard one throws ice cream novelties. Below are some pictures from Fairhope
We had a break before our next parade in Mobile. We did some research and heard the Mystics of Time was a really good parade. It was on a Saturday at 5:45 pm so we planned an excursion to Mobile. We found a parking garage early in the parade route parked and walked down. We thought we had less than an hour wait - unfortunately, it was longer. Word on the street was that a float had a flat tire so there was a 45-minute delay. Boy were we tired of standing by the time the parade started. However, I have to admit some of the fun was before the parade. Across the street, there was a bar with a balcony and people on it who were throwing beads and little footballs and ribbons to the crowd below. Before long there were footballs flying back and forth across the street and all sorts of impromptu fun going on. It was a really good parade as advertised. By chance, we ended up by some friends of a krewe member. They had signs to let him know where they were. The response from that float was a deluge of things - handfuls being dumped in the area which was good because Jeff and I weren't doing too good catching things there! What we had not realized is this krewe is known for their "dragons". Think Chinese style dragon that's been automated. The only people are those tossing throws as it zigs and zags down the street. Some blew smoke out the nostrils. They were impressive. Oh, the high school marching bands were impressive too. You see they did not just march down the street, oh no everyone had a gimmick or special performance up their sleeves. On cue we had them running to the spectators saying hi and giving beads or suddenly doing some impressive dance moves - especially when it was the tuba line! Pictures from Mystics of Time parade
Since we were now in the very heart of Mardi Gras season, the very next day we went to the local parade. It is only in its 2nd year and still very local. We are out a way out from downtown, so the Fort Morgan parade is heavily golf carts with some floats pulled by pick up trucks. It is low key and fun in a different way then the big parades and this one is open to all. By chance, pirates was a common theme this year and Jeff enjoyed yelling at them with his best pirate interpretation.
We skipped the Monday parades and made plans for the Gulf Shores parade on Tuesday which started at 10am. Gulf Shores is the oldest parade in the area and it was large and popular. We had planned on going to a pancake breakfast, but the line was out the door so a change of plans. We set our chairs up close to the starting point and made a McDonalds run. When the parade started we were not disappointed. It was a good parade.
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| Our group with our beads after the parade. |
We ended our Mardi Gras parade season with the smallest parade of the year for us as least. Lulu's boat parade started at the Wharf and went up the Inter-coastal waterway to Lulu's where they were having a big birthday/Mardi Gras party. We decided to go to the Wharf to see the beginning. While driving there we saw people setting up along the Inter-coastal to watch and since the Wharf tends towards the yacht category of boats we were excited. Well, we had trouble finding it at first. Decided these are boat people, they will all show up at the last minute so we got a drink and wandered around (yes it was perfectly legal). Then we found some boats - not yachts. They were numbered up to 10 but I think it was more like 6 boats, 3 of which were pontoon boats and 3 fishing boats (OK I could not afford a couple of them). Anyway, in true Mardi Gras and boater fashion they were decorated and ready to have a good time! They were all talking with the spectators and throwing beads at us from the dock. Then when they started one boat was going along the shoreline a little and throwing beads to us. It was a lot of fun although it does make one miss our old boat some.
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| Salty Mardi Gras dog |
One last thing. Thanks to one of the plastic cups I caught. I can tell you the dates for the next few years Mardi Gras so you too can come to visit Mobile during Mardi Gras!
Feb 16, 2021, is next year then it is March 1, 2022.
For further planners Feb 21, 2023, and Feb 13, 2024.
Finally for those really long-range planners: March 4, 2025.
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