Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World - Part 1

In the neighborhood of Algiers across the river from the rest of New Orleans there is a business called Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. This company builds all of the floats for the big Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans every year. They do this work year 'round - as soon as Mardi Gras is over they start on the next year's floats. They have public tours for a small fee, and they allow people who go on the tour to wander around and take as many pictures as they want once the tour is over. You can learn more at the Mardi Gras World web site.

The giant alligator head makes Mardi Gras World easy to spot. I wonder what it's like to live across the street from this thing.





At the start of the tour they show a video about the business. These are some things in the video room to keep people entertained before the movie starts.





The two big arch-shaped things are parts of Mardi Gras Indian costumes.



Now we're on to the main part of the tour. The following two shots need some explanation. To the uninitiated they may look like racially offensive stereotypes. They are actually part of a tradition started by the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Society - a mutual aid group founded by blacks in New Orleans in the days when mainstream companies wouldn't deal with them - they provided life and burial insurance (among other things) to their community. The Zulu SAPC would use costumes and makeup in the Mardi Gras parade mocking the way that blacks were depicted in minstrel shows and other popular entertainment. Taken in context, this was actually somewhat subversive.






Here is our tour guide.



Mardi Gras World doesn't ever throw anything away. They keep the parts from previous years' floats in a warehouse and re-use them when they can. The place is full of likenesses of celebrities and famous fictional characters. They're ready in case they ever need Hannibal Lecter again.

I have no idea who the owl is supposed to be.