News and information from the New Orleans area
Posts tagged Mardi Gras
CLYDESDALES!!
017 years
The Clydesdale team in action, courtesy Paul J. Murphy, 2007
Carnival in New Orleans wouldn’t be the same without the annual appearance of the famed Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale Horses. The eight horse hitch pulling the traditional Budweiser beer wagon will appear in seven parades in the New Orleans area: 2/13, Excalibur; 2/14, Ceasar; 2/15, Nemesis; 2/17-19, stable viewing; 2/20, D’Etat; 2/21, Endymion; 2/22, Bacchus; 2/24, Zulu.
The Clydesdale breed is a heavy draught (work) horse breed originating in Scotland and improved through crossbreeding with Flemish stallions. They were introduced into America as a draught horse used to pull a load.
In 1933, August A. Busch, Jr. introduced the first Clydesdale hitch to celebrate the end of Prohibition. Today, three eight-horse hitch teams travel the US, making more than 400 appearances annually.
The Clydesdales travel in style. Each eight-horse hitch is transported via caravan in three fifty by eight-foot custom designed vans with air cushion suspension, thick rubber flooring to ease the rigors of standing. Vent fans and insulation assure fresh air and comfortable temperatures. The caravan stops each 100 miles while traveling and at night to attend to the horses’ comfort.
Weighing in at slightly more than one ton, each gelding eats 25 pounds of pounds of beet pulp, crimped oats, bran, minerals, salt, and molasses daily, plus 55 pounds of hay.
In 1950, the first dalmatian appeared for the Newark Brewery Opening. They have been the official mascot ever since.
Grooming and dressing the Clydesdales is a massive undertaking. It takes an average of 45 minutes to wash a single horse. Braiding ribbons into the mane and tail takes another 20 minutes. Then into the black and brass $35,000 custom-made harness-ware. In all, it takes five hours of strenuous work to ready each animal to meet their public, and they sometimes make two appearances in a day.
In the New Orleans area, the Clydesdales are stabled at the local Budweiser Distributor:
Southern Eagle Sales & Service
5300 Blair Drive
Metairie, LA 70003
They always have a nice display set up and you can come out and pet them and meet the handlers who take care of them and travel with them. When I went to my local Rouses Grocery on Tchoupitoulas Street around noon today (February 17, 2009), there was a Bud Clydesdale horse doing public relations with one of the huge buses they travel around in. I didn’t have my camera with me, and my phone camera sucks.
To get WDSU Parade Tracker updates on your cell phone, text “follow parades” to 40404
017 years
by NewOrleansMusicMan
in Mardi Gras
Check out wdsu.com. They have gps units on the first and last floats of all the parades and text the info live via twitter to your phone. You can always know where the parades are while they are running and you are running after them. To get complete details how to turn this service on and off, go to: http://www.wdsu.com/mardigras/18640644/detail.html#parades
Getting the BEST LOOK at Parades
017 years
by NewOrleansMusicMan
in Mardi Gras
A comfortable spot at the rear of the parade crowd allows a more complete view of the floats and better blending of band sounds. In the front, the excitement is more intense, the throws more plentiful, and the paraders’ costumes and expressions visible. Either choice has its merits. Comfortable positions in front are very hard to come by at the more popular parades.
Avoid Canal Street near the French Quarter, unless the most crowded viewing area is sought.
Go to the suburbs, where the crowds are often smaller. Endymion, Bacchus, Rex, Zulu and Orpheus are the most crowded parades, drawing the most suburbanites, locals, and tourists. Few city people and tourists travel to the suburbs for parades.
See a parade on one of the less crowded days. On St. Charles Avenue, the most crowded days are the second weekend of the parade season, which is the weekend before Mardi Gras Day. Ancient Druids roll on Wednesday, February 18, and the crowds should be very manageable. Proteus, one of our favorite parades, is rather sparsely attended, since the night it rolls is both right after the biggest party weekend of the year and the day before Fat Tuesday.
Attend a parade in threatening weather. Many people stay home. Very occasionally, parades do cancel so check radio or web updates when necessary.
Once at a parade of your choice- avoid intersections, especially major ones. Walk until the crowd thins out.
Head to double back areas, if any. Stand on the neutral ground to see the parade twice, coming and going.
Watch near the start and ending areas. Crowds are often thinner at these areas, but this isn’t always so.
Parading starts in earnest tomorrow night!
017 years
by NewOrleansMusicMan
in Mardi Gras
I’m pretty excited about this Carnival Season. I’ve always loved Carnival since moving to New Orleans in 1975. I have a great location. Three blocks from Prytania, where most parades line up, and 4 blocks from St. Charles Avenue, where all the uptown parades roll. It’s my second Mardi Gras in this location.
I’m working on my menu and costume for Mardi Gras Day. Spinach and ham & cheese mini quiches for breakfast. Pulled pork sandwiches, fresh shrimp salad, fruit salad, and fresh potato salad for lunch. I’m thinking of King Cake, mandel brot, and either apple pie or pecan pie for dessert.
This is the first Mardi Gras that the wife has her own scooter. We bought it for Jazz Fest, but she’ll be traveling to the parades in her scooter, which is way way cool.
The uptown parade schedule is more skewed as ever. Saturday, February 14 has three parades uptown- Ponchartrain at 2, Sparta at 6, and Pegasus at 6:45. But Sunday, February 15 has only two uptown parades all day and evening: Carrollton at noon and King Arthur at 1:15. Where’s the evening parade?
The next parade is Wednesday, February 18. Thursday brings three parades : Babylon at 5:45, Muses at 6:15, and Chaos at 6:30. That’s a very long weekday night! Friday the 20th has three parades: Hermes at 6, d’Etat, also at 6, and Morpheus at 7. Saturday has Iris at 11 and Tucks at 12:15, with Endymion rolling through mid city at 5:45.
Sunday, February 22 is the only all day event uptown. Just a few years ago, the two Carnival weekends were just about filled morning through night with parades. Okeanos rolls at 11, Mid-City at 11:45, Thoth at noon. Bacchus rolls at 5:15. To many people on St. Charles Avenue, Bacchus Sunday is a bigger deal than Mardi Gras Day. It starts in the morning, and ends well into the evening. On Mardi Gras day, the day starts early, but ends by mid afternoon when the last truck float passes. Bacchus Sunday is considerably longer than Mardi Gras Day.
One reason people ride/walk in Mardi Gras parades
017 years
by NewOrleansMusicMan
in Mardi Gras
One of the most unusual aspects of participating in a Mardi Gras parade is the dynamics of the eye contact between parade goer and parade participator. As the pp goes by the pg, their eyes meet. The pg, for just the moment the float passes, wants a throw. They want something from you momentarily. Many people want something badly. This passes a little bit of power from them to you. Through the course of the whole parade a lot of power accumulates in you from all this eye contact from people wanting something you have. To some degree, the bigger the crowd, the longer the feeling lasts, though it never lasts as long as as week in my experience.