Allo good peoples!
How do these posts usually start?
Oh, yes.
Yesterday me and some of the crew of the Texarkana Renaissance Faire participated in the Texarkana Mardi Gras parade.
The theme of the parade was "decades" so I chose the 1890s (ish) for my group since most of us already have Victorian(ish) costuming from steampunk events. I decorated a 12-ft trailer myself using plastic table cloths, flowers and paper doilies I got from the Just A Dollar that's going out of business so everything was $.69.
The float was supposed to be set up to look like a quaint little cafe on Bourbon Street but I was unable to pick up the bench, cafe table and streetlamp from my mom's place. So two of our dining chairs, plus two TV trays were set up to kind of act as a cafe setting. The day I was working on the float I saw one of the neighbors had been evicted and all of their furniture was out on the lawn, headed to be burned because it reeked horrifically of cat pish and other odors of general uncleanliness.
I was in need of two more chairs for the float so I held my breath and got two of their dining chairs and gave them a thorough power spray down after soaking the cushions in baking soda and Dawn dish soap.
The ride down to the parade site made the float decor a little wonky but by that time I kind of didn't care anymore. I was so burnt out on float decorating.
Many of our folks were in Galveston for their Mardi Gras as the Pirates of the Caribbean so we were missing a few familiar faces. The good thing is, we had a few folks come in from Shreveport, LA to join us so we had plenty of folks!
My view from the float.
We dropped the kiddos off at their cousin's birthday party before the parade, so me and the husband were able to get in a little "us time" doing what we love to do:
Looking weird and eating Cajun food.
Even at a crazy event like Mardi Gras we get stares but they're mostly followed by compliments and requests for photos. I actually love the attention and I love when little girls run up to me giggling and squealing because I look like some kind of Disney Princesses reject.
Have you ever had Étouffée? It's a very popular cajun dish; a kind of stew of shellfish served over rice. It's usually made with crawfish but this vendor was selling it with shrimp which makes it a little more affordable to make and sell. Still great tho!
The band featured at Mardi Gras was a group called Pelican212; a Dixieland style family band fronted by twin 11-year old trumpet players in shiny suits and glittery hi-top sneakers. They've been on Little Big Shots and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and they are so full of spunk and raw talent.
The adorable gorup!
You can see one of their amazing performances on Steve Harvey's Little Big Shots here:
Did you do anything for Mardi Gras this weekend?
Mardi Gras isn't a thing in the UK but it's big in Goa being largely Catholic.
ReplyDeleteYou all looked fabulous. i can't believe you made that float look so amazing on such a tiny budget. xxx
So fun! You had lots of people on your float and you all looked fantastic! You have such an amazing imagination.
ReplyDeleteThe video was great too.
Mardi Gras isn't big here.
bisous
Suzanne
Hollie, you guys all looked amazing! Well done with the float. You did the best you could do with what you had or found, and it all ended up looking fab....you're so creative! And of course, now, I want to try étouffée!
ReplyDeleteLove this post! All of you and your float look so good. Way to go. The food sounds delicious too. And I can hardly believe that brass band of children. They're amazing and lucky you for having gotten to see them perform live. xo
ReplyDeleteHow fun! I like your spirit.
ReplyDeletethe photo of your husband begs this question: does the big purple flower shoot water?
ReplyDeleteYou all look so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe float turned out adorable and everything looks wonderful in their costumes. :) Your story bought back memories, I have braved the cat-pee curb furniture for freebies, I have an ick one waiting in my stores 2nd room for it's 2nd and then 3rd rounds of clean-up required to use it as a store display, haha.
ReplyDelete