Mardi Gra Parade

The rain finally stopped and it cleared off to be a nice day Valentine Day. I went out to lunch and then this evening drove about an 1 to go see my very first Mardi gra parade. I was surprised how easily it was to find parking. Parked across the street at the local Burger King. Got the lawn chair out and crossed the busy highway.



There were several venders pushing their carts full of Mardi gra merchandise. As you can see in the photos.




The parade started off with a police on motorcycles coming down the street with lights and sirins blaring. It's weird to see police officers on motorcycles as back in Illinois where i come from we don't have police officers riding these. In fact the parade is lead off by local fire trucks.








They did have a fire truck in the parade, it was an old time one that was pretty cool looking.












They also had the parade King and Queen.




There was severa floats, although the floats here are nothing like what i'm used to, although i thought they were all pretty neat and almost all of them had generators running. Music was blaring and all those on the floats seemed to be having a great time. Of course it helped that most of them were already celebrating Mardi gra. Alcohol seems to be the going thing in the south. I'm amazed how you can walk down the street with a open bottle/can of beer and speak to a police officer and it seems to be a normal thing.

These ladies were all decked out and i thought they looked adorable. I was amazed how crazy these kids and adults go so crazy over beads! I asked one man next to us what they would do with all these beads and he replied the kids will enjoy them for a month or so and then they will probaly be thrown away. Hmmmm

This kid was really into getting the beads and i asked him what he would do with them and he replied hang them in my car.

There were several trucks in the parade pulling floats, but i just loved this semi. What a way to decorate your big rig

Some people were even wearing mask, although i honestlly thought more people would be wearing them. I thought Mardi gra was about the mask, but i think it's actually more about the partying?

The rebel flag is really big in the south. In fact it's Mississippi state flag.

There were even some old war equipment in the parade, this guy was happy for me to take a up close photo of him. Pretty neat ride.

Police officers even ride horses and ATV's here. This is so amazing. Of course the horses are always my favorite part of the parade.

It was a pretty neat parade and i enjoyed it and it was a end to a great Valentine Day!