Carnival 2007 "Family" Weekend

First weekend Carnival parades are the lightest of light fare. The floats are simple. The processions are short to moderate length. The bands are just getting cranked up. The themes are simple.. usually something along the lines of "We love ____ about New Orleans" or "Here are some songs we know" or "Food is Good". Nothing too literary or satirical or Vegasy. That comes later. These parades are strictly fundamental. Appetizers to prepare one for what comes later (this year much later) in the week. And yet there is something indispensable about these parades for the hard core Carnival goer. Something pure about them that reminds us that this is.. and always has been.. in many ways a children's spectacle; a silly and boisterous expression of joy that need not be overly ornamented in order to be enjoyed. Of course, if cotton candy, Snap Pops and marching bands aren't quite your idea of family fun, I guess you could take the kids out to Metaire instead to see Tony Orlando. Gosh I hope they liked that.

After witnessing Oshun and Pygmalion simply but joyously herald the start of another parade season Friday night, I hopped back across the Babbling Brook on Saturday to see the Krewes of Pontchartrain and Shangri-La and again on Sunday to see Carrollton. All good clean "family" fun. The day parades are when I bring the camera. Click images to enlarge.

Early Saturday, preparations were being made along St. Charles for optimum viewing comfort. I wonder who the little chair is for.. since we all know the "family" celebration only occurs in Metaire.


The city takes extra care to place colorful purple, green and gold garbage cans along the parade route in order to encourage parade goers to keep the celebration as litter free as can be expected... wish someone would come and pick up that busted traffic light, though.


Here we see members of the St. Mary's Academy marching band and drill team making their way down St. Charles in the Krewe of Carrollton. Carrollton always has a good number of bands.


And here we see the Xavier Prep band approaching. In 2006, St. Mary's and Xavier Prep along with St Augustine High were temporarily combined into one school as all three schools coped with the aftermath of the Federal Flood. The combined schools (known as the MAX school) formed a single band that appeared in last year's Carnival parades. (see here) This year, things are closer to normal. It would have been nice if I could have included a picture of the St Aug band.. who I did see this weekend.. to complete the set but I... um.. must have lost that picture.


The loot wasn't too bad for a first weekend. I came away with Krewe-emblemed beads from each parade I saw, several cups to throw on the pile, and a stuffed frog with an attitude problem. This year's goal is to catch as many green beads as possible. It turns out that Dad will need them when he participates in the Irish Channel St. Patrick's Day parade for the first time this year. No one on our block did quite as well as these guys who fashioned a goal post target mounted on top of a Saints helmet. Many a float rider sent massive quantities of beads and baubles through the uprights.


After Carrollton, we hightailed it downtown to catch the Krewe of Barkus. For unnecessary to mention personal reasons, my Barkus experience was less than optimal this year. I did manage to get this picture of the back of Chris Rose's head... along with the sad expression on the face of Biscuit who has to live every day with the hard truth that she is.. indeed.. Chris Rose's bitch.


Oh one more thing about this weekend. I also stepped in some horse poo.