Kids in play during Mardi Gras buildup
Family involvement shows New Orleans’ gentler side
NEW ORLEANS — A red wagon decorated as a shrimp boat with nets extending out from either side carried a waving 2-year-old dressed as a shellfish being pulled by his parents who wore white rubber shrimping boots.
The family was among more than 100 revelers marching through the streets of New Orleans on Jan. 20 in the Krewe of Confetti Kids parade — one of the many kid-centered events held during the Carnival season leading up to Fat Tuesday on Feb. 13. Other children dressed as princesses, mermaids, and firefighters while a brass band serenaded the crowd.
“I love Mardi Gras,” said 7-year-old Virginia Strong, who wore a 1950’s style polka dot dress with a string of pearl beads around her neck. “It’s fun to dress up and have fun with your friends.”
The weeks-long celebration leading up to Fat Tuesday is often perceived as an adults-only holiday with drunken roguishness and women flashing their breasts for beads. And to be fair, that’s certainly a factor in the French Quarter’s famed Bourbon Street festivities.
But elsewhere, children and families are as much a part of the revelry as anyone — many say they’re the heart and soul of the holiday. Children can be seen lining the parade routes, families spend weeks making costumes together and there’s even kid-centered parades.
“This is the best quality family time we get all year, because we spend more weekends together costuming and going to parades together, and it’s just wonderful,” said Ariana Maria Ybarra, a married mother with two young girls.
Ybarra said her family has been spending recent weeks preparing for Chewbacchus, the Star Wars-themed walking parade in the city’s Marigny neighborhood slated for Feb. 3: “We’re going as a family of Martians.”
The largest of the kid parades is Little Rascals, which has floats, marching bands, dancing groups, Mardi Gras Indians in full feathered headdresses, Cajun Indians on horseback, and kids tossing cups, beads, toys, pralines, moon pies and other snacks.
“There’s something for everyone, and the great thing about it is that the kids are just kids,” said Maureen Spittler, who co-founded the parade in 1983 with her husband, Jack. Launched 35 years ago with about 50 kids and three floats, the parade now has nearly 20 floats and nearly 300 kids.