Mardi Gras World

Thursday, 21 March
Aviation arbor Famcamp — NAS JRB New Orleans — Belle Chasse, Louisiana
Temps: Lo 65F / Hi 79F (18C / 26C)

The day did not start off well!

I don’t say that because we had a cloudy start to the day.  Rather, I woke up with the most horrendous headache ... the kind of headache that you would thank someone to chop off your head and throw it away just to be rid of it.  I’m guessing it was induced by the pollen that has been flying about like so many snow flakes.

Despite the headache, I was enthralled by the early-morning clouds; thanks to Mui, I have a photo by which to remember this sky-scape.

A dose of allergy pills supplemented with Ibuprofen, warm compresses (thanks, Mui), and a short nap righted my world again.  But, the ordeal wreaked havoc with our plans for the day.  So we jiggled them again.

It was 11:00a by the time we left home for the Algiers Point Ferry Terminal.  I further delayed us when I spied some murals along the way — first, on the side of the Craige Cultural Center; next, on a retaining wall not far from the ferry terminal.  I’ll share those in a “murals post” at a later date.

Rather than taking the car across to NOLA proper, we once again opted to pay the $5 parking fee for the dirt-lot adjacent to the ferry terminal.  The “Senator Alvin T. Stumpf” gave us a quick ride across the Mighty Mississippi.  With clear-blue steadily winning over cotton-white in the skies overhead, we were raring to get our afternoon of sightseeing started.

I couldn’t resist taking photos of this Volvo TGB1314, an ex-army ambulance from
Sweden, converted into an RV.  It was parked in the Algiers Point Ferry parking lot;
a Dutch couple is touring the world in this vehicle, which they have nicknamed
“Panda.”  More info, and interior photos of the Panda, on their website.

Crossing Canal Street, we took up our vigil in front of Harrah’s Casino for the shuttle to Mardi Gras World, billed “… as the world’s largest float designing and building facility in the world.”  Yup … one of those tourist-trap tours was on the agenda for the first part of our afternoon.  Why visit it?  Because I have a better chance of being struck by lightning than of finding myself in NOLA during Mardi Gras.  I figured this would be a good way to see some of the floats that participate in the festivities.

From this “naked” float base … to these decorated floats.

Since we boarded the free shuttle from one of the last hotels on the pick-up route, our ride to the warehouse was short.  Making our way through a maze of over-sized props, we entered the gift shop where we exchanged our tickets for a couple of medallions.  Tacky though they were, these medallions identified us as paying customers and allowed us to wander at will after the tour.

The tours start on the half hour, so we had a few minutes to check out some of the original Mardi Gras costumes displayed around the gift shop before our group was called.  From the signage at one of the displays I learned that “while the costumes for the float riders are mass-produced, costumes for the court are made specifically for the individuals wearing them.”

This Queen's Gown is circa 2000;
the page costumes were worn in the Krewe of Bacchus for the 1999 parade.

Left: Krew of Zulu costume.
Right: Queen’s gown; circa 1960’s.

The two-part tour normally starts off with a 15-minute video of the history of Mardi Gras and the Blaine Kern Studios.  However, we did the tour in reverse, with the walking portion followed by the video.

Historic photos of past Mardi Gras parades set the stage for our tour.

Once through the doors leading to the dens, we found ourselves in a fantasy land filled with over-sized props used on parade floats.  Some had seen better days, but many of them looked to be brand new.

As we wandered through the immense warehouse, our guide told us about the old and new ways of making the props.  The old process was based on papier-mâché; the new process includes the use of clay molds, fiberglass, and styrofoam overlaid with papier-mâché for a more realistic outer shell.  Clothing for the figures are made with a spongy material, also overlaid with papier-mâché, for a more fabric-like look.

Left: At 5’2” (1.5 m) tall, I provide perspective for the size of some of the props used on the floats.
Right: Snake Woman looks to be a new prop; I wonder which krewe is going to use it?

More props of all shapes and sizes.
Note the bust of Harry Connick Jr.  He apparently so enjoyed participating
in the parade one year, that he returned the next year with his own Krew.

Along the way, we stopped to see the sculpting shop and the paint shop where craftspeople were hard at work on the floats for 2014.  At each stop, our guide not only told us about the process of building the floats, but also shared tidbits about the Mardi Gras parades and traditions.

The first step in the building of a float is the design.
Work on the next year’s floats starts as soon as Mardi Gras for the current year is over.

Left: Styrofoam pieces are layered and glued together to form the basic sculpture before they are refined and shaped by hand.  The pieces here are part of the bull’s head in the sketch above.

Right: This young woman is working on the head of HENRY VIII, which is …

… going to top the body, which is already in the paint shop.
It’s apparently easier to work on the prop heads separately.
Having seen the size of some of these props, I can understand why.

Here’s one of the tidbits our guide mentioned.  Did you know that there were 53 parades during the 11 days preceding Lent this year?  And no one float can participate in more than one of those parades!  That’s a lot of floats!  Our guide also made a point of mentioning that contrary to a common misconception, all the parades are rated “G.”  No debauchery allowed!

most floats are disassembled, and parts and pieces are re-used.  some floats,
like the one pictured here, are kept intact; they are considered“signature” floats.
As crowd pleasers, signature floats participate in parades year after year.

I’ve mentioned “Krewes” in a couple of captions.  These are organizations responsible for putting on a parade or a ball during Mardi Gras.  Krewes traditionally bear the names of characters from mythology and consist of dues-paying members.  Depending on the size of the Krewe, the dues for the privilege of belonging can range into thousands of dollars.  (For those interested, detailed info here.)

Back to the tour in progress.

The second part of the tour was a 15-minute video about the history of the Mardi Gras parades and the Blaine Kern Studios.  The Kern family has been building floats for Mardi Gras since 1947, but that isn’t all they do.  They also work on special events and have corporate clients around the world, including Euro Disney.  With 18 warehouses where floats are built and stored, this is no Mickey Mouse operation — excuse the pun ;-)

Our time in the theater included playing dress-up with “authentic” Mardi Gras costumes.  From what was on the hangers, I am guessing they were outfits worn by float riders, and not by courtiers.  Getting into the spirit of things, we joined in the fun.

Who’s that jester impersonating a king?
or is it the other way around ;-)

After the official tour was over, and we had received (and eaten) our free slice of King Cake, we were free to wander on our own, and take a closer look at the props and shops.  Perfect time to have some fun!

The jester and the queen.
(I would have been a “jestress,” but I wasn’t tall enough to get my head through the opening.)

“What on earth did I just bite into?” wonders the lion as he chews on a smiling Mui.

Lois Lane, with her bag and camera handy, joins Superman for a flight!

Was Mardi Gras World worth the price of admission?  We think so; but we bought our tickets from the ITT [Information, Tickets & Travel] Office on base for $14.50 pp.  At $19.95 pp for the regular adult admission, it’s a bit pricey, but that seems to be the going rate for “walking tours” in NOLA.  That we took the free shuttle to get there added value to the ticket price (parking in the lot near the warehouse is $10).  The shuttle leaves from the Canal Street Ferry Terminal and stops at a whole bunch of hotels.  We mistook the Harrah stop as being at the casino … word to the wise, make sure you’re waiting in front of the hotel :-(

The next part of the day … well, that’s going to have to wait for another post … I have yet to process those photos … I’m falling behind again; sorry!