Parade Report -- Endymion We managed to catch both Endymion and Bacchus this year, something that has been quite difficult for us to do in the past. Since I didn't get to experience Carrollton at my regular viewing spot (Canal and S. Telemachus, across from the Grace Episcopal Church and one block down from Mandina's), I motivated the family and we headed out to that spot for Endymion. Endymion rolls at 4:45 from City Park (Orleans and City Park Avenue). It doesn't get to downtown for a long while after that because the crowds are so thick. Catching the parade early on in the route is challenging, since so many folks from Metairie and points west cram onto Orleans and N. Carrollton Avenues so they can get in and out of the city as fast as possible (this is part of the Metairie Mindset, which I will explain in an article one of these days). Not only is parking in Mid-City difficult, but just getting near the parade route can be a problem. So many folks are on the interstate heading into town for both the parade and Carnival in general that traffic backs up well into Metairie. And that was at noon! So, we worked our way from Metairie to Canal Street via Earhart Blvd. and S. Carrollton. Every front-row spot on the neutral ground was taken by 12:30, so we decided just to stay on the street side near Grace Episcopal's rectory. Getting out to the parade route that early gave us an opportunity to enjoy a couple of Mandina's po-boys. I had an italian sausage and Helen had a shrimp. Both were quite good, and well made, in spite of the heavy traffic going through the restaurant. By 5:30, we felt the need for a little dinner, so we grabbed some hot dogs from the church. Grace Episcopal has a large Hispanic contingent in the congregation, and they sell a bunch of Latin food (tamales, etc.) at the parades. They also do hot dogs, with one of the best chilis in town. But I digress. The parade go to us about 5:45pm. That is, the mini-floats started, with the celebrities and dukes/maids. After 12 of these (including a special float with some of the Brother of the Sacred Heart, comemerating their 125th anniversery in New Orleans), the Queen and King came by, then the super floats. I've always had little patience with the mini-floats in the past, but being on the street side this year really pushed my patience to the limit. The problem with these floats is that the maids and dukes don't really throw a lot of stuff, making it quite boring for children. These riders have a hard enough time just staying on the float, much less throwing beads, cups and doubloons. Being on a ladder on the street side means we were about five deep, so there was no way we could catch anything from the minis. This is very frustrating to a five year-old who has been waiting all afternoon. The oversized, 2-deck floats made up for this frustration quite quickly. Floats in the average parade normally have two or three riders on an upper deck, but Endymion's floats have a full row of upper-deck riders. This is great for the crowd in the back. At any other parade, we would have been able to view the parade nicely, catching just a little. With the full upper deck, we caught as much stuff as those in the front row did from the lower-deck riders. The quality of the throws was excellent; almost everyone around us had at least one pair of nice, long beads. The theme of the parade this year was "Endymion's Rockumentary." Each float depicted some aspect of rock-n-roll, including Folk Rock, the Fab Four, Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett), The King, etc. Figures were outstanding. I thought the large parrot on the Margaritaville float (in honor of "Parrotheads," the term Buffett coined for his most loyal fans) particularly appropriate. Bands were fairly good quality. This means they were all senior high bands, and the better ones of that group. No dance units with large sound trucks following them, thank all the gods that be. The parade moved along at a pretty good clip, which is to be expected early on in the route. My score (on a 1-10 scale): 9.5. BTW, if anyone doesn't want to venture into town to see Endymion, you can always see what the floats look like in the Zeus parade on Lundi Gras.

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