Early morning showers gave way to a breezy, cloudy day with temperatures reaching near 70 degrees. All over the city, revelers celebrated in ways as unique as their stunning costumes.
In a twist, the Zulu parade was actually on time, leaving S. Claiborne Avenue and Jackson Avenue for their long march downtown while the Society of St. Anne was late heading into the heart of the Marigny neighborhood.
Choices had to be made, so we ended up missing St. Anne, although we did manage to see some fascinating costumes including numerous mermaids and mermen with motifs reflecting last summer’s BP disaster. One man in a bathrobe stood on a small personal carpet. He was dressed as “the Dude” from the film, the Big Lebowski.
We reach Basin Street in time for almost all of the massive Zulu parade. Ann scored two coconuts (pictured) from the generous riders.
After Zulu passed we headed to N. Claiborne Avenue to look for Mardi Gras Indians. Wind and rain are the two enemies of the Indians and I didn’t expect to see to many tribes on the streets given the day’s forecast. But we almost immediately ran into the Black Feather gang.
Led by Big Chief Lionel Delpit, their costumes in the 3-D downtown style were exquisite. Spy Boy Stafford Agee was particularly impressive in a purple suit. His face was almost completely obscured by a beaded mask. Agee’s day job is one of the trombonists in the Rebirth Brass Band.
Though we didn’t stay on Claiborne for all that long, we did manage to see at least a dozen Indians before heading back into the Marigny to continue the day’s revel on Frenchmen Street.
