I was born and raised in Mobile, AL, The Mother of the Mystics, and I’ve been going to Mardi Gras parades there as long as I can remember. Just like most other children there, my dream was to ride on a float in a Mardi Gras Parade. Well this year my dream came true. But not in Mobile. My wife Frances and I rode in New Orleans.
For those who don’t understand about Krewes or Mystic Societies let me take a minute to explain. Each Mardi Gras Parade is put on by a group of people called a krewe in N.O. or a Mystic Society in Mobile. The big difference between the two is that in Mobile you must submit an application and await approval. Once accepted you are put on a waiting list to ride (paying dues all the time). You may wait several years or in some cases if your parent didn’t ride you never will. In New Orleans I spoke to the Krewe Captain and we rode the first year. No big application, no hassle, no social climbing. Mobile is mostly upper crust society, New Orleans is mostly regular folks. There are exceptions to these rules in both.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Mardi Gras in Mobile, where it started in this country, New Orleans has just made it bigger and better. If you have kids go to Mobile or Metairie, LA. If you want wild, go to New Orleans. I do not take my kids to New Orleans. The crowds are just too big and wild.
But I degress, for those of you who have not had the privilege to ride, I offer the following description of our virgin ride.
It all started just after Mardi Gras 96. I was reading the Times Picayune web site on how to hitch a ride and found “Krewe of Tucks” a group which has a slightly twisted view of the world. “Frances” I said “I think these are my kind of people.” So I picked up the phone and called the Krewe Captain Bob Reichert. (if you want to know the whole story click here). So we got signed up. Around April we paid our dues and were assigned to a float. We received several letters during the year keeping us abreast of what was being planned for our ride on Feb 8,1997.
Now I skip forward to Jan 17. The coronation
ball was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriot Hotel. All you
can eat and drink. Good Food, Good Liquor, Dancing. The ball is
costume preferred or semi formal. You should have seen the looks
we got as we made our way from the parking lot to the ball. Well
as can be expected there were a lot of Friar Tucks there, both
male and female. One lady even had on a mini robe. Our favorites
included a bottle of Crown Royal (not actual size too bad), Snow
White and the Seven Ducks, and two guys wrapped in Krewe of Tucks
toilet paper(Oh the Shit they’ve seen). So here we are on
the third floor of the hotel in the ball room about 11:30 at
night. Suddenly the side doors open and in comes two New Orleans
cops on motorcycles, lights and sirens going. They ride up the
center of the ball room followed by a high school marching band
and two small floats bearing the king and the queen of Tucks
followed by her maids(dressed as French maids) throwing beads to
the crowd. They made several figure eights around the room and
left. My wife had an absessed tooth so we didn’t get to stay
for the rest of the ball.
Two weeks later(Feb 1) we went to a distribution party in Metairie, LA. This is where you go to buy your throws and drink beer. While they have the best prices on the items they have, they don’t have everything you want to throw. i.e. plastic doggie doo, toys, stuffed animals, roses, etc.
That day we spent going to different suppliers getting the little extras we wanted as described above. That night we stayed for the Krewe of Caesar parade in Metairie. They put on a very nice parade. Our two girls really enjoyed it. Where we stood was all families, the kids in the front, the parents behind. Everyone watching everyone else’s kids. We were able to stand with some distant kin who ride on Fat Tuesday in the Crescent City Truck Parade.
Friday the Seventh seemed to never arrive. Frances spent the week making our costumes and we went to the parades in Mobile at night. However, Friday did finally arrive as predicted. So we tried to pack the car. We have a Park Avenue with a 40 acre trunk. Surely we can get all our throws in there I thought. Well when we filled the trunk we still had enough to fill two thirds of the back seat to the roof. Our good friend Sandy was going with us so we had to save room for her. She just managed to get in.
We stayed in Long Beach, MS at the Sleep Inn. The manager Scarla was very nice to us. It is just over an hour from New Orleans and for the money you save well worth it. Advise, if you don’t mind a short drive stay in Mississippi. The hotels in N.O. jack their prices and have a 3 to 5 night minimum stay. Even in Slidell (30 minutes from New Orleans) the rooms are almost double or more with no discounts for those of us who have to stay in motels often for work.
Saturday we got up and drove to New Orleans to the parade loading area. We had to be there a couple of hours before starting time to load up. We were able to pull right up to the float. As soon as we got out of the car a man came up and introduced himself as Joe our Float Driver. Joe helped us load all our stuff on the float and was as kind and all the help you could ask for. Thanks again Joe. Sandy left to go park our car down near the end of the route and meet up with other folks from here in Foley.
For those of you who don’t know, you have very little room on the float. We were on the bottom level of the float and each had a space about three feet by five feet to put all our throws and stand. Luckily, we were able to hang a lot of our beads on nails above our heads and behind us. We spent the next hour or so arranging ourselves and getting to know the people around us.
Here is a good place to give you an idea of the quantity of throws we each had. 30 gross of 33 inch beads, two and a half cases of moon pies, a bag each of stuffed animals and toys, 48 inch beads, 60 inch beads, 72 inch beads, and 100 inch beads. Not to mention doubloons, cups, emblem necklaces, etc. So we were in a tight fit.
Also a special thank you here. To the Krewe of Christ from the First Baptist Church of New Orleans. The coffee was much appreciated. They had kindness without preaching. This is something other Christians should emulate as this is my idea of the way to be. By example not looking down at others.
So here it is about noon for a 1:00 start . Time to get into the beer. Yes this writer consumed mass quantities before the parade and was feeling pretty good.
Folks were walking around the start area and we’d throw them moon pies which are a novelty in New Orleans and a well know treat in Mobile.( In Mobile in the 60s and early 70s boxes of Cracker Jacks were thrown. In the early 70s Cracker Jacks were deemed harmful throws (those who have been hit in the face and head know what I’m talking about). Anyway, Cracker Jacks were banned and moon pies were introduced as a safer throw (those who have been hit in the face with a moon pie may laugh at this). The original Moon Pies, Lookout Moon Pies from Chattanooga are a prized catch even today in Mobile.)
A brief note here, Krewe of Tucks has two groups, Riders led by Bob Reichert and Walkers led by Lloyd Frischhertz. The walkers behind our float were Toilets - The Royal Flush.
While we were waiting to start one of them (Roy) asked Frances to let him store his vodka on the float for a refill along the way. Another (Ed from Atlanta) was having problems putting on all his beads and had some broken ones. We were happy to help him get ready, for which he rewarded us each with some of the biggest, longest pearls we’d ever seen. Who said kindness is not rewarded.
Well 1:00 came and went and still we sat waiting. I talked to a driver who had been doing this for 30 years. He said if a parade ever left on time they’d cancel Mardi Gras. Not wanting to be blamed for canceling Mardi Gras, we rolled at 2:30.
The next two and a half hours were almost a blur of grab stuff and throw it as fast as you can. However, you do pick out faces in the crowd. The look of desire on the kids faces which is replaced with joy when they realize you are going to throw to them is incredible. The look of older ladies sitting in their lawn chairs when you throw things right in their laps is another joy. So here we are going down St Charles Avenue, when Frances hits my arm and hands me two beers. Someone had given Ed three, he couldn’t carry them while he drank the other so he shared (Thanks again Ed). Down past Jackson Avenue a young women is begging for a cup. Show em Babe. She had a rather healthy set of lungs so I gave her three.
Lee Circle - Half Way. Oh my God, I haven’t thrown half my stuff yet. I look down and am ankle deep in loose beads. I start throwing like a man possessed. Where before I’d throw 3 or 4 beads at a time, now they fly by the dozens. Moon Pies sailed by the handfuls. God for time to drink a whole beer. What the hell I open a beer and take a drink from the can, whoops there’s a cop (drinking on the float is supposedly a no-no). What the hell I throw him a gross of beads.
We turn on to Canal. Crap, still too much stuff left to throw. I don’t want to have to unload and carry all this stuff. I throw faster. Now we’re making the U turn at Rampart. I haven’t thrown my cups, they fly in two throws to the crowd. I look down the street, we’re coming to Woolworth’s where our neighbors Ben and Dorothy, Frances’s Brother Frank and Mother Peggy, Sandy and others have been waiting for us for hours. I look next to me Lynn is empty. I throw her a gross of beads. “Unload these at Woolworth’s” I scream above the roar of the crowd. There’s Frank. Start really throwing. Grab long beads, throw several dozen at a time. We’re past but keep throwing to them. We’re almost at the end. If it ain’t nailed down throw it. Frances has Roy on the float helping her throw. We’re stopped. I look behind me, all my 100 inch beads are still there. I bag all that’s left. We have four bags and the ice chest to unload. We come off the back of the float and go to the curb to sit. We are both exhausted from our efforts, both physically and mentally.
After a brief rest, we load up and walk back the four blocks to Woolworth’s through a packed crowd. The end of the parade has not passed so we let everyone know we are at the back of the crowd waiting for them and collapse. A drink and a cigarette are just what is needed. Tourists stop to get there picture made with those they had seen riding just so recently.
Ben asks “Did the reality live up to the dream?” I just give a tired smile and a nod.
If anyone has photographs of the Krewe of Tucks Parade 1997 float # 8 (It's the one pictured above) Preferably the Left side of the float. Please email them to me at the address below.
I just have one other thing to say in closing. Frances and I tried very hard to make our virgin ride not only good for us, but good for you also. If we didn't throw you something, I'm sorry, but we threw as hard as we could.
Recieved 2/23/97 from gulftel.com
With respect to the Mardi Gras organizations in Mobile, it is true that some do involve a bit of "social climbing," and I emphasize - SOME! I am a member of a Mardi Gras organization in Mobile and have come to realize that we are a group of down-to-earth, fun-loving, hell-raising women. Some of us have a little more in our pocket books and a little more influence in Mobile, but others, like me, are young, middle-class students just looking for a new way to celebrate the carnival season. I was on the waiting list to get into my organization for about 1 1/2 years. It was a time of excitement because I knew that one day I would receive a letter letting me know that I had finally made it. I am now an associate and probably will be for several years, but you know what, that does not bother me. I know that one day I will be able to ride. Until that day, I can enjoy the socializing, the parties, the dances, the meetings, the games, and the trips while, at the same time, pay only a portion of what the active members pay in dues. I have been to New Orleans Mardi Gras and feel that it cannot even compare to the joy of Mardi Gras in Mobile. So, I hope that you enjoyed your night in the spotlight in New Orleans, but don't give up on Mobile. Let the Good Times Roll!!
With regards,
Name Withheld by RJI
Rob's Response
Okay, I agree that not all Societies are based on social standing, but you have to admit that waiting a year and a half sounds like you were being checked out. I joined to ride, not wait, and since my wife does not drink, dance, or like to dress up, the parties etc would be a waste for us.
As far as Mobile's Mardi Gras goes, I do enjoy the parades. I get out there and beg for beads just like everyone else. I just enjoy getting away every year for a break, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans is it.
You mentioned New Orleans does not compare to Mobile. I don't know where you stood, but I find they compare very favorably to each other. It seems that when we stand with strangers in New Orleans, they become friends. However, I wish I could say the same about Mobile. Once again, there are not any hard and fast rules. There are people that we see only at Mardi Gras because they and we stand in the same place every year. And of course we have had some run ins with some real jerks in New Orleans.
So I say there is no better Mardi Gras. There are just different Mardi Gras's. When you get to ride I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I just hope you follow the same advice I am. When you get tired of it or can't afford to do it right, quit. Don't try to slide by just throwing a little. Quit, the spectators will enjoy it more.
You can reach Rob by e-mail at: rjivey@gulftel.com 