Chapter 7
Parades
What is a Mardi Gras parade like?” I asked Mrs. Madeline Partridge. She, the mother of my college friend Bill Partridge, had asked me to join her for my first parade. “Why,” she thought for a second, “It’s like having a baby. If you’ve never had one, then there is no way I can describe it!”
She was correct. My first parade was hosted by the Crewe of Columbus, of which Mrs. Partridge’s husband, Billy, was a member. The overwhelming, bigger than life, colorful pageantry of that parade sent goose bumps all over me—which still happens at today’s parades. As my friend Deborah Velders, executive director of the Mobile Museum of Art, said, “It is like a medieval spectacle!” I would add, “On steroids.”
Mardi Gras parades generate the largest turnout of any Mardi Gras event. In fact, for many people, parades are what Mardi Gras is all about. When attendance at all thirty-seven parades is counted, it totals over one million, and when adding attendance at all other events, Mobile’s Carnival becomes the second-largest community festival in the nation each year!
Most parades precede mystic society balls and start in the early evening, usually at 6:30 p.m. A few afternoon parades are followed by daytime balls, called receptions. There are a few other parades during the day that represent organizations that are not mystic societies and a few that are produced by the Carnival associations to present their Royal Courts.
The Order of Myths, the oldest Mardi Gras parade in America, rolls on Mardi Gras evening at 6:00 p.m. All other parades proceed, oldest to newest, in general, when the Conde Cavaliers kick things off eighteen days earlier on a Friday evening.
According to Julian Lee Rayford in 1962:
You have to see a Mardi Gras ball, you have to see a Mardi Gras parade—you have to see the color, the gold leaf and the silver leaf, the costumes—you have to enter into the whole unorthodox fantasy of the thing and see, not children but grown people, literally living out fairy tales, before you can believe it. And even then you won’t understand it. Some folks say you have to be born in Mobile to comprehend it.
Mobile County sheriff Sam Cochran leading the Sheriff’s Posse, 2010. Author’s collection.
Folly Chasing Death, by Carl deCelle, 1967. Mobile Carnival Museum Collection.
100th Anniversary Print of the emblem of the Sirens by Barbara Ann Guthans, 2014. Mobile Carnival Museum Collection.
Nereides fiftieth anniversary print, 1989. Mostellar collection.
Order of Incas leader’s costume, 2014. Author’s collection.
Local designer Gloria Good, 2014. Author’s collection.
Jessica Price wearing a self-designed hat, 2014. Author’s collection.
Alabama State University Marching Band, 2010. Author’s collection.
Olympia Brass Band, 2013. Author’s collection.
Order of Myths Emblem float, 2012. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Joe Cain’s Merry Widows, 2014. Author’s Collection.
Joe Cain’s Merry Mistresses, 2014. Author’s collection.
MCA Queen’s Luncheon table setting in honor of Queen Lynn Wentworth Morrissette, 2011. Photo by Jeff Tesney, Mobile, Alabama.
A Juvenile Court float, 2014. Author’s collection.
MCA’s King’s float, King Felix III, Peter Cayce Sherman Jr., with Queen Louise Vass McClure, 2010. Author’s collection.
MAMGA coronation 2014 of King Elexis I, Bennie Morris Jackson III, and Queen Cecile Frances Green. Author’s collection.
MAMGA Mammoth Parade, Mollies float, 2010. Author’s collection.
Train of MCA King Felix III, David M. Mostellar, 1992. Author’s collection.
Train of MCA Queen Virginia Oliver Van Antwerp, 2003. Author’s collection.
Pat Halsell-Richardson with the train she designed worn by King Elexis I, Bennie Morris Jackson III, 2014. Author’s collection.
Crown of MAMGA King Elexis I, Jamarcus T. Russell, 2010. Author’s collection.
Mystics of Time, Dean the Dragon float. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Mystics of Time Emblem float. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Knights of Revelry Emblem float. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Infant Mystics Theme float. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Crewe of Columbus float, 2012. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
David M. Mostellar, MCA King Felix III, and Queen Celeste “Kitty” Peebles, 1992. Photo by M&A Studios, Mobile, Alabama.
Conde Cavaliers, Train float. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Infant Mystics, Theme float. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Alabama A&M University Band, 2012. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Blow House Brass Band, 2010. Library of Congress.
Mystic Stripers, Tiger float, 2012. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Order of LaShe’s, Title float, 2012. Steve Joynt/Mobile Mask.
Parades are often led by men and women on horseback from the Mobile County Sheriff’s Posse or the Mobile Mounted Police Auxiliary. These dedicated volunteers are often led by the sheriff or police chief, along with flags of a color guard.
Along the parade route, other mounted members flank the route keeping crowds “at bay” as the parade rolls. The crowd loves the beautiful horses that are well trained to be swarmed by crowds who pet and photograph them. Color guards of JROTC from various high schools may also lead or participate in parades.
Most parading mystic societies also have members on horseback participating in the parades. They are called marshals, and their costumes are among the most elaborate of their parade. They may appear at the beginning of a parade or between the various floats. Their favorite throws are doubloons, coins minted in aluminum with the organization’s emblem and founding date on one side and the ball theme and current year on the other. Currently, each organization mints about twenty thousand doubloons each year, which are also thrown to the guests at their balls.
High school and university marching bands are another important part of a parade. These bands come from all over the region. There may be as many as fifteen bands appearing in one parade. The bands are paid to appear and are often brought in by bus and housed in hotels so they may appear in multiple parades. My friend David Schmol tells me the Infant Mystics have brought in such university bands as the Citadel and Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Visitors often wonder why hotel rooms are so scarce and expensive during Carnival. Part of the reason is that bands and locals take most of the rooms during the season. Part of the excitement of a parade is the many bands playing one after another, rolling down the street with majorettes dancing and prancing along.
Other important musicians of Mardi Gras include marching brass bands. Earlier brass bands like the Alliance Brass Band, Eureka Brass Band and the Onward Brass Band have faded into history, but the Excelsior Band dating to 1883 continues playing Dixieland and traditional jazz at parades, balls and many other occasions during the year. This band always introduces the first parade of Mardi Gras, that of the Conde Cavaliers. It plays in as many as fifteen parades each year and consists of three trumpets, three saxophones, a trombone and a tuba, plus bass and snare drums.
A Knights of Revelry marshal, 2010. Author’s collection.
Formed just over twenty years ago and founded by a former Excelsior Band member, the Mobile Olympia Brass Band is recognizable by members’ bright gold shirts and the “official” clown who leads their way. This ten-piece band has also become a Mobile Mardi Gras music sensation.
The Excelsior Band, 2010. Author’s collection.
The first few floats are called permanent floats. They are saved for use each year in a “float barn,” or warehouse. The first permanent float is often the “Emblem” float. It will have the society’s name and founding date, giant representations of their mascot(s), which may be animals or Greek or Roman mythological gods or creatures, all designed at a height to just miss overhanging traffic lights.
Many of the larger nighttime parades will have several Emblem or permanent floats. Some parades will have just one or two. For example, the Infant Mystics members introduce their theme on the second of their two permanent floats that display their mascots—a hissing cat, an elephant and a knight in shining armor beside a cotton bale, all of which are displayed in giant caricature.
The Crewe of Columbus has five permanent floats. The first has Columbus and the American Indian chiefs, and the next are the floats that look like ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. One more float, the Serpentine Float, has several intertwined serpents that appear to chase the three ships.
Behind the last permanent float will often be a float introducing the theme of the parade that year, which is also the theme of the ball that follows. The next floats, up to fifteen, will each reflect the year’s theme. For example, a recent Infant Mystics parade, designed by the talented David Schmohl, had the theme: “How Does a Garden Grow.” The Theme floats included Shifting of the Seasons, Worrisome Weeds, Tools of the Trade, Pestering Pests, Wondrous Water, Flourishing Flowers, Beneficial Bugs, Soaking Up the Sun, Fruits of Our Labor, Welcoming Wildlife and Gratifying Garden.
An Infant Mystics theme float, 2010. Author’s collection.
Newer parading organizations may borrow floats from older societies but never until after the older ones have had their parades.
One of the newer parading societies, the Butterfly Maidens, whose members in the past have used borrowed floats, added an interesting emblem to their parade. Instead of riding on a float, some members dress as gigantic butterflies reminiscent of costumed creatures from The Lion King. They are on the street fluttering around their floats as the parade rolls down the street.
Riding on floats can be a great family tradition. My friend James “Jimbo” Mostellar has paraded with the Infant Mystics for fifty years—long enough to see his dream realized: having all four sons ride with him in a recent parade.
Some of Mobile’s most famous floats include:
Order of Myths Emblem: Folly chasing Death around the broken pillar of life.
Knights of Revelry Emblem: Folly dancing in the goblet of life.
Infant Mystics Emblem: A black cat atop a cotton bale, the foundation of Mobile’s antebellum wealth.
Mystics of Time’s Vernadean: A giant, rolling, fire and smoke–breathing dragon float.
Mystic Stripers Society: Two large forty-foot-long Emblem floats, one a ferocious and strong tiger and the other a sleek and fast zebra.
A Knights of Revelry Emblem float, 2010. Author’s collection.
Crewe of Columbus’s Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria: Three floats built to resemble Columbus’s famed ships.
Order of Polka Dots: Famed Emblem featuring three winged sons of Pegasus bearing the Golden Chariot of the Gypsy Queen through rainbow-enveloped clouds.
Order of Inca Messengers and Sun Worshippers: Some of Mobile’s largest moving structures.
Conde Cavaliers Emblem: Swashbuckler points his sword right at Mobile.
Comic Cowboys: Series of satirical comments on current events, local and national.
Thirty-one of the thirty-seven modern parades follow Parade Route A. This parade path is a two-and-a-half-mile route winding through Mobile’s Central Business District.
There are many great places to watch the parades, and if you study the routes, you will be able to figure out how to see any parade from several locations, though you may have to run to do it!
I like to watch parades from balconies, but you will have to get yourself invited to stand there. They are all privately owned. Some hotels have balconies that allow guests their own lucky view.
The street level, however, is where the action is. It is the difference in watching a ballgame from a private box and sitting on the first few rows at the fifty-yard line or in front of the cheerleaders.
A Mystics of Time Emblem float, 2010. Author’s collection.
A Comic Cowboys float sign, 2010. Author’s collection.
A Mardi Gras float seen from a balcony, 2010. Author’s collection.
I like to watch a parade first across from the Battle House Hotel where, atop the thirty-four-story RSA-BankTrust Building, a giant Moon Pie, fourteen feet in diameter, lights up and flashes as it falls on cables to just above the crowd below, which applauds and screams. Its descent announces that the parade has begun a mile to the south and will arrive soon.
The Mechanical Moon Pie atop the RSA-BankTrust building, 2013. Author’s collection.
As the parade passes about halfway through, I run back to Bienville Square, where the floats take on a magical ambience viewed through the beautiful live oak trees. Then, at quick pace, I move south along Conception Street. This is the most narrow street on which the parade rolls. The floats are so close you can almost touch them. All the Moon Pies, candy, beads and trinkets whiz by you or strike you at alarming velocity. Then I run west on Government Street to Spanish Plaza, where there is plenty of space under more beautiful trees to relax as the parade rolls on, visiting more streets on the western edge of the Central Business District. There is, however, standing where I am, another opportunity to see the parade! It is coming back my way! Here, near where the parade will make its last turn onto Claiborne Street at the Mobile Carnival Museum, is the best place to catch lots of throws. At the beginning of the parade, the maskers (society members in costumes on the floats) are afraid they may throw all their throws away too soon, so by the end, they usually have a big stash left to throw. You may catch a whole box of Moon Pies and ten pounds of Mardi Gras beads, all in one spot!
The hundreds of beautiful floats built new each year must not only be meticulously designed to appear to be bigger-than-life expressions of an idea but also must be functional. Each float must handle the weight of up to twenty maskers who will each be loaded with over one hundred pounds of treats to throw to the crowd. Within the float must be a portable restroom, and sometimes there is even a wet bar.
Often the designs of the floats are created by a talented member of the society. For example, Edward Ladd or his son, Bradford Ladd, have designed floats for the Order of Myths, and David Schmohl has designed floats for the Infant Mystics.
Mobile has a history of talented float designers and builders. John Gus Hines and his son Emile Hines designed Knights of Revelry floats for the latter half of the nineteenth century. Others that followed were Edmond Carl deCelle, John Augustus Walker, Webb Odom, Joe Andrade, Andre Criminale, George Criminale, Ike Felis, Louis Colston and George Noonan. In 1962, Joe Andrade said, “You can’t say there is nothing permanent about Mardi Gras. There is something permanent about it, because you carry the memory of it to the grave. I’ve heard lots and lots of people from out of town say they never saw anything like it. They think it’s wonderful. They never forget it. That’s the whole point of Mardi Gras—somehow, it’s never forgotten.”
Some of today’s talented designers include Brent Amacher and James Finkle, as well as those who both design and build, such as George Danzy, Ari Kahn and Rhonda McCullough.
Mark Calametti is known not only for designing floats for the Crewe of Columbus and the Knights of Revelry for over fifteen years but also for his painting of the clever, satirical signs of the Comic Cowboys. He joins Joe Michelet, who has done the same for the Cowboys for decades. Mark is also the artist for much of the Mardi Gras memorabilia, as well as for the doubloon and medal designs for the mystic societies and Royal Courts, all commissioned through Toomey’s Mardi Gras Warehouse.
Steve Mussell, pictured in 2014. Author’s collection.
Steve Mussell and his firm, the Mirth Company, have been in business since 1979 and employ ten full-time employees and up to six part-time artists, painters and carpenters. Some of his floats are for societies such as Knights of Revelry, Infant Mystics, Crewe of Columbus, the Stripers and Order of Polka Dots.
Craig Stephens, pictured in 2014. Author’s collection.
Craig Stephens’s firm, Carnival Artists, has been in business for almost thirty years and may employ as many as fourteen talented workers to build as many as seventy floats and refurbish over ten permanent floats each year for such societies as Order of Myths, Order of LeShes, Neptune’s Daughters, Mobile Mystics and the Mobile Carnival Association’s Floral Parade. Stephens also maintains all the permanent floats of the Mobile Carnival Association.
Lighting has been one of the more important aspects of float designs over the years. Desired effects of lighting in nighttime parades include glowing, shining, glistening and glittering. Early parades depended on flames of torches and flambeauxs. Later, incandescent light bulbs introduced the need for generators, usually pulled behind the floats. Fluorescent lighting is now most often used, but we are beginning to see the introduction of LED lighting to light the floats of Mardi Gras.
The goal of a lighting designer, such as George Criminale, is to achieve the perfect luminance without the crowds being able to see the source of the light, unless the light is the artistic subject—for example, a dragon’s eyes. Electrical fires occasionally occur, in which case the flaming float is pulled to the side, maskers dismount and join another float and the parade goes on! This is why there is always a fire truck following the last float, and it signifies the end of the parade.
“Throw me something, mister!” These words are synonymous with Mardi Gras parading anywhere in America. Children and adults alike enjoy catching the goodies thrown from floats to the crowds along the parade route.
For years, the “throws” included hard candy, bubble gum, taffy, bags of popcorn and peanuts, serpentine (tiny rolls of colorful paper), confetti and Cracker Jacks.
In the 1950s, it was decided to ban confetti and Cracker Jacks. Confetti was banned because maskers were throwing it directly into the mouths of people in the crowd, causing them to choke, and Cracker Jacks were banned because the boxes were cutting people on the face.
As a result of the ban on Cracker Jacks, the now favorite throw, Moon Pies, made in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by the Chattanooga Moon Pie Company, were introduced. Now New Orleans throws candy and Moon Pies, too.
Strands of plastic beads and plastic trinkets were thrown in New Orleans at parades for years but were introduced to Mobile about fifty years ago and are now a favorite catch. Everyone tries to catch bigger and better beads than the next guy. Favorite bead catches include emblem beads, which are beaded necklaces with an attached plastic representation of the organization’s emblem. In fact, a local cosmetic surgeon has been renting billboards during Mardi Gras suggesting that women, in order to catch more beads, may wish to consider a free consultation.
Long arms are a great asset for catching throws. Other clever techniques for catching throws include holding an umbrella upside down, holding a small plastic swimming pool over your head or holding up a sign with the name of someone you know who is riding a float.
Don’t be shy! It takes newcomers a few parades to get in the swing of things. It is sometimes hard to imagine adults grabbing Moon Pies and beads aside unfamiliar children doing the same. Most adults will share their catches with little children.
Steven Toomey—whose parents, Ann and Jack Toomey, opened Toomey’s Mardi Gras Warehouse in 1976—has been selling Mardi Gras throws to most of Mobile’s mystic societies for decades. What began as a seasonal business has become year-round with the company’s online store.
Toomey’s sells over five thousand different styles of Mardi Gras beaded necklaces. It sells over 3.5 million Moon Pies and over 51 million strands of Mardi Gras beads from the seventy-thousand-square-foot store, all of which will be tossed to the crowds.
The Moon Pies are made by the Chattanooga Moon Pie Company, and according to Steve Toomey’s business partner, Chuck McVay, Toomey’s is their biggest customer. Mobile will get special flavors such as coconut and caramel, made only for our Mardi Gras. As mentioned earlier, Mobile even went so far as to have a giant fourteen-foot-diameter metal reproduction of a Moon Pie placed atop our second-tallest building, the Trustmark Building, which lights, flashes and descends to just above the street at the start of each nighttime parade.
Toomey’s Mardi Gras Warehouse, 2014. Author’s collection.
Now popular plastic cups thrown from floats and printed with all sorts of lists, flags and characters are also made by the tens of thousands in the United States for Toomey’s each year.
The millions of Mardi Gras beads are made in China. The individual beads may be small or large, and the necklaces come in all lengths. Some may have additional decorations hanging from them including emblems, mascots, flags and various and sundry odd items.
Toomey’s also sells the flags of Mardi Gras. Mobile’s colors of Carnival are purple and gold—purple for justice and gold for power. The color green, which stands for faith, was added by New Orleans in the late 1880s.
Toomey’s also does large custom orders for societies and other organizations. It has hundreds of thousands of doubloons minted. As mentioned earlier, these are coins thrown to the public at parades and to crowds at the balls. On one side is the society’s emblem and founding date, on the other the theme of the year and date. They are made of aluminum specifically to be thrown. For members only, they are made of porcelain or bronze, and for the Leading Lady or Leading Man, doubloons may be made of sterling silver or gold. Other custom orders may include medals or pins given to members of the Royal Courts, their families and friends, as well as custom beads, trinkets, cups and glassware.
Cosmetic surgery billboard, 2010. Author’s collection.
Girls with beads at a parade, 2010. Author’s collection.
King cakes are available at many bakeries throughout Mobile during Carnival season. These giant sweet rolls are covered in icing in the colors of Mardi Gras. A tiny naked baby, one half inch long, representing the newborn baby Jesus, is nestled within the cake. The cakes are brought to a parade party, and the guest who receives the piece of the cake with the baby must bring a king cake to the next parade party.
There are a few important rules to follow when attending a Mardi Gras parade in Mobile. There are galvanized iron barricades lining the parade routes. These are to protect both the floats and those watching the floats. Before floats were as big as they are today and when they were pulled by mules, people were allowed to run right up to the floats. When the floats began to be pulled by tractors and pickups, running up to floats became dangerous, and several people lost their lives by being run over. Just before a parade, street intersection barricades will be locked along the parade route. You will be heavily fined if you are caught jumping a barricade.
Throwing any object into a parade is prohibited. Pets are restricted, as well as scooters, skateboards and firearms. There are items that are prohibited from being thrown from floats by maskers. They include rubber or any hard balls, wooden-handled objects, condoms, dolls with sexual organs, candy apples, canned foods or whole boxes of food.
Because Mobilians view Mardi Gras as a family affair, nudity, blatant public drunkenness and other lewd behavior are frowned upon.
As the fire truck passes, signifying the end of the parade, it is time to get out of the way. The clean-up crew is coming. Some say watching the clean-up crews after Mardi Gras parades is as fun as watching the parade—at a safe distance, of course.
Street-sweeping machines come barreling down the street, spraying high-pressure streams of water right and left with a force of a hurricane. The teams of uniformed workers with push brooms follow, and within the blink of an eye, it seems the tons of litter, broken beads and smashed Moon Pies are out of sight, and the city is sparkling clean again—just in time for the next parade.
MODERN-DAY PARADE SCHEDULE
(SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
The calendar day of Mardi Gras Day varies each year, as does Lent and Easter. Parades are listed first to last in order of appearance. For example, Conde Cavaliers roll three days before Mardi Gras Day.
| Conde Cavaliers | Friday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of the Rolling River | Saturday, 2:00 p.m. | Dauphin Island Parkway |
| Bayport Parading Society | Saturday, 2:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Pharaohs | Saturday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Hebe | Saturday, 7:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Conde Explorers | Saturday, 7:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Polka Dots | Thursday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Inca | Friday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Mobile Mystics | Saturday, 2:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Mobile Mystical Revelers | Saturday, 2:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Maids of Mirth (MOM) | Saturday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Butterfly Maidens | Saturday, 7:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Krewe of Marry Mates | Saturday, 7:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Neptune’s Daughters | Sunday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Isis | Sunday, 7:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Venus | Monday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of LaShe’s | Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Mystic Stripers Society | Thursday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Crew of Columbus | Friday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Floral Parade | Saturday, 12:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Knights of Mobile | Saturday, 12:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Mobile Cadets | Saturday, 1:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Mobile Mystical Ladies | Saturday, 1:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Angels | Saturday, 2:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Mystics of Time (MOT) | Saturday, 6:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Joe Cain Procession | Sunday, 2:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Le Krewe de Bienville | Sunday, 5:00 p.m. | Route A |
| MCA King Felix III and Floral Parade | Monday, 12:00 a.m. | Route A |
| MLK Business and Civic Organization | Monday, 3:00 p.m. | Route D |
| MLK Monday Mystics | Monday, 3:30 p.m. | Route D |
| Northside Merchants | Monday, 4:00 p.m. | Route D |
| Infant Mystics (IM) | Monday, 6:30 p.m. | Route A |
| Order of Athena | Mardi Gras Day, 10:30 a.m. | Route A |
| Knights of Revelry (KOR) | Mardi Gras Day, 12:30 p.m. | Route A |
| MCA King Felix III with Knights and Maidens Parade | Mardi Gras Day, 1:00 p.m. | Route A |
| Comic Cowboys | Mardi Gras Day, 1:30 p.m. | Route A |
| MAMGA Mammoth Parade | Mardi Gras Day, 2:00 p.m. | Route B |
| Order of Myths (OOM) | Mardi Gras Day, 6:00 p.m. | Route C |
*Parade routes and dates are subject to change. Always go to http://www.themobilemask.com for the most current schedule information.
PARADE-ONLY ORGANIZATIONS
Some organizations have a parade but no ball. They do have meetings and often small parties and fundraisers during the year. Several are official parades of the Carnival associations.
There are children’s parades, with sixty to eighty children participating in costumes with decorated bicycles, strollers and wagons. These are held in various subdivisions in town and date as far back as 1968.
Parade routes A and C. MobileMask.com, Nancy Joynt.
Parade routes B and D. MobileMask.com, Nancy Joynt.
A little girl in the Mystics of Ashland Place Children’s Parade, 2014. Ashland Place United Methodist Church Collection.