Fact- I love Mardi Gras in Mobile and will not return to the celebration in New Orleans. Not because it is not fun, but because I enjoy Mobile that much more.
I had my first Mardi Gras experience in 1997, my freshman year at The University of Alabama. There were a bunch of girls in my sorority from New Orleans and my room mates cousin was at Tulane so we went over to check it out. We did the whole Bourbon Street thing. MISERY. The best thing that came out of that weekend was that VERY randomly I ran into two friends from home. Adam Kramer was at the University of West Alabama and Jamie Lamanna was at the University of Tennessee and I saw them on Bourbon Street. Fun.
The next 3 years I went back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Our friend Kathleen, also from NOLA took us. We stayed with her family which was awesome because we had a GREAT experience. Her mom always had the house stocked with red beans, jambalaya, gumbo and even made us beignets for breakfast. We stayed uptown and watched the parades on St. Charles, spending our nights at places like The Boot and Fat Harrys. Those 3 years doing Mardi Gras in NOLA were so fun!
THEN...........I started dating this young man (who later became my husband) from Mobile, Alabama. In 2001 I had my first Mardi Gras in Mobile and have celebrated in this city every year since. I LOVE Mardi Gras in Mobile. For starters, it's really clean. It is a family affair. People come out for parades with their children, you don't see people flashing for beads like you do in the French Quarter. The parades are so fun! Each parading society has their own "thing" that makes them unique and special. And the balls! OH, the Mardi Gras Balls! I cannot get enough. The year I was pregnant with Hunter I went to like 12 events. I was 7 1/2 months and huge and had a blast. I love shopping for Mardi Gras attire. The hats and cocktail dresses and suits for the day parties and the gowns for the white tie balls. I love them all for different reasons. The Inca ball is always a blast because they have FUN bands- for example- the Molly Ringwalds and we always dance all night. MOT I love because we always see all of our friends that night- people that we may only see once a year- and again, we dance all night. IM because its not as crowded but still just as much fun- I love seeing the entire mardi gras court make their grand entrance and LOVE seeing all the trains on the girls dresses- and again, we dance all night. The OOM party is great because they have the best food and a martini/ bloody mary bar and it is so fun to see the fashion. And the KOR party I love because it's Mardi Gras and I love any excuse to wear a hat! I cannot get into the other balls because we would be here all day.
Now that I think about it, I can pretty much cut out cardio for much of the carnival season because of the excessive dancing.
Hunter LOVES the parades and especially loves the nights his daddy rides. In this wonderful small southern port city we get over a month of celebration- parades, parties and revelry in general that most people are not lucky enough to ever experience. It is one of my favorite things about Mobile.
It was also pretty cool to see that one of Mobile's older societies, the Knights of Revelry (KOR), was on Dirty Jobs the other night with Mike Rowe (shout out to Baltimore). They have Folly as their emblem and are known for the bladders he bangs- formerly pig, now cow. Unless you have experienced it is sounds CRAZY and it is, but that's just how we do things down here. Go big or go home!
Here are some pictures from over the years for your viewing enjoyment. And if you ever want to experience this for yourself, come on down to MOBILE- the city where it all began!
Hunter all dressed up for Lundi Gras parades-
the night MOT followed the IM parade and daddy
had his first MOT ride!
MOT parade
For more on the history of Mardi Gras in Mobile check out The Mobile Carnival Museum. They will get you good and educated on Mardi Gras!
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