Overview of Weekend 1's Parades

We started off the Carnival parade season as we've always done, by going to see the Krewe of Atlas on Friday night. We were a bit torn between walking the six blocks to the Metairie parade route or heading into town to see the Krewe of Ashanti on Canal Street. It didn't take long for me to realize that we made a mistake. Atlas was its usual, low-rent Metairie self. I can't do full justice to why I dislike Carnival in Metairie so much here, so I'll save that for another article. My biggest gripe with Metairie parades is that they're always full of gaps. Atlas pleasantly surprised me in that these gaps weren't as bad as they can be sometime. The main reason for the lack of gaps last Friday was that the krewe used standard sized floats rather than the over-sized ones which have become popular in recent years. The regular floats can take a turn a lot easier than the over-size ones, so they don't slow down the entire parade when making a 90- degree turn. The bands were so-so, and the usual assortment of dance groups with blaring sound systems made up the bulk of the marching groups. On a scale of 1-10 (ten being best), My score for Atlas is a 5 1/2. The extra half point is because the Brother Martin High School band was in the parade, and any parade that invites my old school isn't all bad.

The weather was threatening enough to keep us away from both Caesar in Metairie and Sparta in town. There was enough rain in various parts of town that the Krewe of Pontchatrain cancelled for Saturday afternoon, and decided to parade behind Carrollton on Sunday. It's a shame to miss Caesar, since it's one of the best parades in Metairie. Excellent costumes, throws, etc. I'd still pick Sparta over Caesar, simply because it's *not* in Metairie, but if you don't want to venture into town, Caesar is usually not bad.

Things had improved greatly by Sunday, and the Krewe of Carrollton had wonderful weather for its 70th parade. The theme was one of those "looking back on all of our years" themes which allows a krewe to put together a mish-mash of rented floats that normally would have no connection with each other. Floats are terribly expensive, so many parades have to make do with the selection in the rental pool. The "old-line" krewes own the foundations for their floats and have new ones made up each year. Among the ordinances regulating Carnival in the city is one that stipulates that the same float can be used in the city only twice. Since Carrollton is one of the first parades of the year, they have the advantage of being the first appearance. The costumes were quite good, and the marching units were first rate. We normally catch Carrollton down by Mandina's on Canal, but this year we went with my brother-in-law and his wife right at Orleans and City Park Avenue. My score for Carrollton: 7

Following Carrollton by about half an hour was the Krewe of Pontchatrain. Re-scheduled because of threatening weather on Saturday, Pontchatrain only paraded with their floats. This happens to most re-scheduled parades, since the bands booked for Saturday had other obligations on Sunday. The floats were standard rentals, and the costumes were lacking quite a bit. Throws were fairly generous, however. It's not fair to rate a re-scheduled parade, but they would've gotten an extra mark from me just because they had Channel 4's Susan Roberts on one of the lead floats.

After lunch yesterday, we headed Uptown to catch the Krewe of Freret. Freret has merged with the Krewe of Pandora this year. Pandora started out as an all-female krewe that paraded in Gentilly. Their route started at Pontchatrain Beach, went down Elysian Fields to Mirabeau, then turned back lakebound on Paris Ave, to Robert E. Lee, where it headed back to the beach to disband. Pandora, along with the now-defunct Hercules parade were near and dear to my heart, since I went to high school, college, and had my first teaching job (at Redeemer High) all in that neighborhood. Both Freret and Pandora, having fallen upon hard times, felt it wise to merge the krewes and pool resources. They used Freret's route, but started the parade at 4:00pm instead of the evening starting time used by Freret. The floats were once again non-descript rentals, but the costumes were good and the bands were the best so far, including the St. Augustine "Marching 100" and several of the larger public high schools such as Fortier and John McDonough. Throws were good, and we caught a lot (it helps to have a five year-old on a ladder). My score for Freret: 6 1/2

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