NEW ORLEANS - MARDI GRAS WORLD

Building Mardi Gras All Year Long

Carole has never seen a Carnival parade. We could stay another two weeks until Carnival starts or we could go to Mardi Gras World and tour one of the fifteen warehouses of a company that builds Mardi Gras floats. The company was founded by one of the preeminent  Mardi Gras designers, Blaine Kern.

Jester, a common Carnival theme. We paid for our tour and waited in the gift shop for it to begin.

Crazy hats fit right into the spirit of Csrnival. How to choose between a jester and a gator? We won't dare show up at Lazy Daze LaDeze without a silly hat now, Lorna.

Neutral ground is the term for the traffic median in New Orleans vernacular. During Carnival parades, viewers and participants alike use the term to let friends know which side of the float(s) they will be on. 

The Pelican is the Louisiana state bird.

Designer's sketch for a float. This warehouse was building floats for the Krewe of Orpheus. 

Harry Connick, Jr. was one of the founders of Orpheus. To learn why it was named Orpheus, see this Wikipedia link.

Styrofoam is used to sculpt the three-dimensional parts of floats. It offers significant weight savings. These rings will be the cornucopia in the drawing above.

Floats and their components are saved from one year to the next. This 2014 design is based on a saved float. 

Papier mȃché being applied over the sculpted styrofoam. Paper mȃché adds strength and affords a smooth surface for painting.

Design sheets for the Krewe of Muses. Muses is the first all-female Krewe and their parade themes are satirical. Clearly this year they are poking fun at politicians.

Stored sculptures fill the warehouse.

Flower on a float. Flower petals are made by glueing two pieces of poster-board together with wire between them. They are painted and decorated. Even if it rains during a parade, the flowers last just long enough.

Floats are pulled by tractors. 

Straps inside the float secure riders. There is a toilet on every float.

We were permitted to wander among the floats and sculptures. They only asked that we not use flash around the workers.