Top 10 Cities of Mardi Gras

The Top 10 Cities of Mardi Gras

The structure and style of the celebration in other cities different from the base line original, by which all others are judged, i.e., the city of New Orleans, (LA) Louisiana.

Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans , Louisiana is still rebuilding and restoring systems damaged during the storm….One year, seven months ago and counting. Along the Gulf Coast , there are 10 cities that hold celebrations of Mardi Gras that provides a great alternative to the best style of Carnival in the South.

While none can truly touch the original favorite, here are the nine other destination that can at least give New Orleans a run for it's money!

#10- Gulfport , MS – This city is really doing whatever it takes to create and build a celebration that will pull in those tourist dollars. Gulfport started before Katrina to learn and use the festival to lure tourists into the city for revenue. Big name acts, area set aside, and small groups constituted the start of a festival that will entertain and invigorate, and carry on the vision. Visit Gulfport !

#9 – Pensacola , Florida - is just starting out when it comes to holding Mardi Gras celebrations. The krewes in this coastal city are still new at the overall business of staging the festival and its events. The parades are small, but dynamic. The crowds are modest, but slowly building into a respectable size over the years.

#8 - The Mardi Gras industry in Shreveport, has seen some changes in the past 15 years that has impacted the very fabric of their festival. One of the most significant is the formation of several associations of the krewes or groups. Of all these new, CO-Ops, one stands out for sheer imagination and co-ordination among the organizations, The Arkansas -Texas- Louisiana Association. The combined krewes of this Association, puts on one heck of a show, in the Shreveport Metro area , every season. The parades are truly innovative, and refreshing. It will take a few times to really get into Shreveport's style of doing things but by the time the Krewe of Gemini parade is over, you will be a believer!

#7 – Baton Rouge , Louisiana – This city located about 70 miles north of New Orleans and host one of the better ball celebrations on the Gulf Coast . The loose federation of approximately 22 organizations, continue to wow crowds each season with parades from floats and help from the New Orleans, krewe circuit. The balls and pageantry are pointing to bright times ahead for the city and its festival. The Balls are really the way to go here as the style in the capital city of Louisiana, has the tilt decidedly in the lavish celebrations range. The costumes are some of the best you will see in Louisiana. However, give these guys time, and they will soon give Mobile a run for the money.

#6 – A small community in central Louisiana holds a great festival that is destined to be one of the best known in the state. New Roads, LA holds the oldest festival second only to New Orleans in continuous celebrations and innovations. Indeed, Bras bands have formed to continue most of the traditions. They are considered one of the industry rocks in the state, as the protocol of the celebration is held intact.

#5 – In the great state of Texas , the city of Galveston , Texas, decorates a small area of the city, which is set aside to host the festival style celebration each season. There are usually 12 to 14 days of masked balls, events and parades sponsored by the krewes of the city. The city also helps in the costs of police and the big time entertainment.

#4 – Alexandria , Louisiana , is another city that holds festivities at the behest of an association. The Alexandria Mardi Gras association has created some of the best of the ”new” traditions and protocols. The festival is more geared towards parades than balls and events, but that will be fixed by next season.

#3 – Mobile , Alabama hosts one of the best traditional celebrations, bar only to New Orleans , Louisiana . This city is one of the most dedicated to the original protocols of the balls, and the operations of every organization that keep the tradition alive.

Mobile ’s celebrations, however are one of the most “clickest” or niche driven of the “modern celebrations”. In New Orleans , any member can be appointed or elected by the entire krewe to King or Queen. In Mobile , no one can become King or Queen except by birthright. This is just one of the many small, but important points that make the balls and the parades some of the most special in the Carnival season. The best tradition that is nearly exclusive to Mobile, is the art of the royal trains. These royal robes are attached at the mantle, or harness, that each king and Queen wear. These very ornate trains, are carefully and skillfully encrypted with the lineage, in symbols, of the royal wearer. If you can decipher the symbols, the complete story on each monarch can be read. Their likes, hobbies, educational backgrounds, even their life partners, can sometime be found on their train. Each train can weigh up to 80 pounds and look awesome! Don't miss the Mobile celebration, in the form of their balls!

#2 – Tampa , F lorida ’s Gasperilla Festival is named for a mythical pirate, Jose’ Gasper. Bar none, this is one of the most innovative showcases of fun and play roles in modern carnival. It features the mock invasion of the Tampa Bay Waterfront by krewes dressed as pirates.The rest of the festival is essentially one parade right behind another with the krewes calling the shots. It is one terrific show.

Started in 1904, as a May festival, one of Tampa's social and civic leaders, Miss Louise Frances Dodge, society editor of the Tampa Tribune, adopted the pirate as patron rogue of their city-wide celebration. At the suggestion of George W. Hardee, then with the federal government in Tampa, she decided to develop an entire theme for the affair based on the legend of Gasparilla.

After reading the paper, a few citizen's decided to seize the opportunity and a few secret meetings later. gave birth to the first "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla," whose forty members planned to surprise the populace with a mock pirate attack on Tampa Bay. Masked and fully-costumed, the first krewe arrived on horseback and "captured the city" during the Festival Parade.

The first invasion was so successful and well-received by the people of Tampa that a city-wide demand was voiced, to make the Mystic Krewe organizational structure, permanent and to replicate the carnival each year. The costumes, crowds, throws, floats, and now, with the world's only fully rigged, 80ft steel pirate vessel, commissioned in 1954, and completed in 1956, the krewe, along with the entire community engineers one of the best outdoor play drama, that masquerades as a celebration. You simply have to be there to believe it!

#1 – New Orleans , Louisiana is the best location to celebrate Mardi Gras. The citywide celebration is a 14-day public and 30 – 45 day private celebration that the public gets to peek into and even participate with us, at what has become known as, "Mardi Gras Central", the French Quarter. The main reason is the ability to lose yourself in the crowds , which are compacted into a one mile by 3/4 of a mile rectangle in the federal park known as the "French Qtr".

Hotels and Motels are just mere seconds, yes, I said seconds, away from the 24 hr festival that rages on unabated and unstructured for up to 5 days! The crowds are remarkably well behaved for the size, and the celebration is partially based on the fact that people are on the, "honor system", and know there is a limit to which you must respect. The stories you will tell the memories you'll treasure for the rest of your life! Then you might not want to leave like me!

These top 10 cities along the Gulf Coast in which to celebrate Mardi Gras are the best you can attend during Carnival season.

The structures of these festivals strive to entertain the revelers more by parade and party than any other method. The younger municipalities that choose to hold some celebrations did not see a need to participate more than granting permits, and providing some police protection.

However, these type of celebrations do need some boundaries set for the revelers so you don’t get what happened in Seattle , Washington . Towns and municipalities must be sure that they have enough of a family atmosphere and eating establishments, plus tours and other activities to keep someone busy for at least three days.

These “free wheeling” celebrations, which are unmanaged, by design, are great for the revelers to lose themselves and, “Let their hair down.”

If you can make it to one of these celebrations, please make the trip and enjoy yourself. As always however, know your limits and respect them.

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