By Emory Bowdler
“Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans have been called off only 14 times, because of war, mob violence, or labor disputes,” Bloomberg News reported. We can add “global pandemic” to that list as a reason for cancellation of the Carnival season. But true to its party reputation, New Orleans residents came up with a way to celebrate the season despite the pandemic–Yardi Gras.
Yardi Gras started as a fundraiser for The Krewe of Red Beans as a way to highlight the float artists and raise funds. But people soon took notice and decided to join in on the house or yard floats. These floats were all over the city, and people formed tours and apps to see all the floats or routes. Despite the pandemic (or perhaps because of it), this year, people went all out for the Krewe of House Floats, proving you cannot keep the Carnival spirit down.
When I took my tour of the Yardi Gras house floats, I saw around 10. But while the spotlight was on the huge ones on the busy streets, I would like to highlight small ones that may have gone unnoticed. For example, the cuckoo clock house that was themed around clocks and COVID made a birdhouse with a bird coming out. I really found this design original.
Another one that stood out to me was a house float float themed on insects and flowers. Around the house there were models of dragonflies, butterflies, and very bright pink flowers. These were attached to the bushes surrounding the house. I found this float particularly interesting and very cool because it was a 3D model. The other house float I saw that was themed around insects had bees pollinating flowers. I think this was to symbolize the importance of bees and pollination. These bees were also 3D, so it was pretty cool to see them pop out as if it was on an actual float.
But the bigger house floats were what really captivated people’s attention and blocked traffic for miles. On Saint Charles Avenue, the biggest of the big house floats were on display. These had huge models of animals, actual floats, unicorns–almost anything you can imagine was represented on someone’s house. Arguably the main attraction was the model dinosaur at what is sometimes referred to as the “wedding cake house.” This house had one huge dinosaur and two smaller ones that were harder to see, as well as tons of flowers around the yard. It’s hard to argue that the wedding cake house’s dinosaur display didn’t take the number one spot as the best house float.
That said, the sheer number of floats all over town made this year seem like Mardi Gras wasn’t actually cancelled but rather just transformed into a private party anyone could drive by and peek into.
