This year mark the first time I have spent the entire Mari Gras holiday in Mobile, the birthplace of Mardi Gras. During the four years I spent a Spring Hill College I went to New Orleans three times, and I attended one Mobile parade. This year I skipped New Orleans, as most people did, and went full bore into the Mobile celebrations. I attended 6 parades, 3 balls, and one Fat Tuesday hotel party. I will begin with the parades.
The Mobile parades are great. Of course they are not quite as elaborate or wild as the New Orleans parades, but they are still top notch. The floats have anywhere between 1 & 3 levels and are very elaborate. The floats were the same style you would see in New Orleans, large and well decorated. The floats had bright lights and special effects like a dragon blowing stem. The throws consisted of beads, large stuffed animals, moon pies, peanuts, candy, coins, cups, spears, freebees, etc. I actually found the throws to be better since the crowd was smaller and thus it was easier to catch the really good throws.
I watched the majority of the parades from The Garage. As you would expect, The Garage had a great atmosphere with live southern music and $2 beers. The SOCO girls even made an appearance during one of the parades. Garage patrons filled both sides of the streets and crossed back and forth until the police closed the barricades. Mobile doesn’t have an open container law, so it was easy to buy a beer at the bar and bring it with you to your final destination. The crowd at The Garage was pretty solid. Every age group was represented and there was a heavy presence of “flops.” As you would expect there were few kids, and there was even some flashing going on. The parade usually made its way past the garage around 8:00pm and each parade I saw was solid. After the parade concluded you could either go out downtown or, if you were lucky, go to one of the elaborate Mardi Gras Balls at the Civic Center.
This was the first time I have ever attended a Mardi Gras ball. I did go to “Thallians Ball” at the Mobile Country Club earlier in the year, but the Mardi Gras Balls are a different affair. After the parade concludes the organization that rides in the parade hosts a ball at the Civic Center. The Civic Center is where the Mobile Mystics Hockey team played for a brief period of time. Hockey in Mobile? Whose fucking idea was that? Anyway, the balls begin with “call outs” where different members of the organization are acknowledged. I am not exactly sure what all the “call outs’ entail because I never actually went to them. “Call outs” last for about an hour, and during that time the bars are closed. Therefore, I usually used that hour break to change into my tux.
Most of the balls enforce a strict dress code. A tuxedo with tails is required for men, and a floor length evening dress is required for women. These organizations are very strict and they will not let you in unless you are in proper dress code. After you get passed the doorman there are really no more rules. There are numerous open bars with beer, wine, and liquor. There are also multiple rooms that have their own private open bar and buffet. The buffets were usually pretty impressive. At the M.O.T.’s (Mystics of Time) Ball the spread consisted of a roasted hog, prime rib, shrimp, and sandwiches. Everything is free of course and it is very easy to roam from room to room. M.O.T.’s was the largest ball I attended, and thus there were three separate bands to accomadte the crowd. I have to say that the bands were the weakest part of each of the balls I attended. All of the bands I saw were your typical weeding bands that played the fucking electric slide at least 3 times a night. The band in the main area of the Civic Center alternated between weeding favorites and Big Band type music for the old southerners. I have nothing against Big Band Music, in fact I think it works nicely with the whole tradition behind Mardi Gras. However, after several hours of Big Band I found it very difficult to keep conscious. Eventhough the bands were relatively week the whole experience was awesome. The festivities concluded on Fat Tuesday and the parties that took place during the day were fitting.
I have never really celebrated Fat Tuesday. After three days of heavy partying, I usually leave New Orleans on Sunday morning, which is fine by me. This was the first year I celebrated Fat Tuesday, and I wish I had done so earlier. Fat Tuesday was by far my favorite day of celebration. The majority of businesses in Mobile are closed on Fat Tuesday, and things got stated early with over 300,000 people downtown. I was downtown by 10:00am with 3 Mimosas under my belt soaking up the atmosphere. Some friends of mine had a hotel room at a sweet hotel right on the parade route across from the civic center called
The Malaga Inn. The hotel had a classic southern charm, French architecture with balconies, and awesome courtyard. There was a full bar right in the courtyard and there was also pretty good band that played live music throughout the day. The hotel room my friends had was a corner room on the first floor. The room was great for the simple fact that it was convenient, filled with food and drink, provided a place to change, and had a bathroom. There were multiple parades throughout the day culminating with an SEC football parade around 2pm. After the parade concluded people began to return to the hotel to change for the KOR(Knights of Revelry) Ball.
The KOR Ball was the big shit ball of Mardi Gras. The organization itself has been parading for over 140 years. The dress code for this ball was a little less formal. For the men a suit and tie was all that was required, and for the women a proper dress worked just fine. However, the women all wore these elaborate hats for the ball that were reminiscent of the Kentucky Derby. This ball was smaller than the rest, but was more Old Mobile. Instead of the typical Aristocrat served at most of the balls, the KOR ball stepped it up offering guest Beefeaters, Dewart’s, Jack, and fine selection of wine and beer. There was no food at this ball, but that didn’t really bother me since I got more than my fill at the hotel. The band was a funk style wedding band which was better than most, and the scotch on the rocks made things a bit more enjoyable. There was also this crazy dude called “Folley” who carried around these inflated pig intestines on sticks in both hands. He would swing these things around in the air and bash them on the ground. “Folley” did this throughout the entire parade and ball. I think the pig intestines are supposed to represent time or death, and “Folley” is supposed to destroy all of them. The intestines were reinforced with gold paint, and they did not break easily. That “Folley” dude must have had pure Jager running through his veins, as I never saw him stop beating the inflated pig intestines on the ground. Lauren was able to talk “Folley” into giving her one of his sticks to bash around for a little so he could take a break. The whole experience was wild.
Now that Mardi Gras has come to an end, I have had some time to reflect on the whole Mobile Mardi Gras Experience. I have to say that I think I like Mobile’s Mardi Gras better than New Orleans Mardi Gras. This probably sounds crazy to most of you, but hear me out. For one thing Mardi Gras started in Mobile, and that within itself deserves some respect. More importantly, I got to sleep in my own bed every night instead of fighting someone for the nasty floor. I got to take a nice hot shower every morning instead of having some bitch yell at me saying the shower is broken. I got to go to the parades at my leisure, and I did have walk forever to get to them. I could get a great spot on the parade route without having to sit there all day, and I got to catch way better throws. I got to enjoy several Mardi Gras balls, and a bunch of other local festivities. I got to celebrate Fat Tuesday. And finally, I could easily find a bathroom so I didn’t have to risk getting arrested by pissing on the street. Now don’t get me wrong, New Orleans Mardi Gras is a whole experience within itself that nothing really compares to. I have already done New Orleans three times however, and this year I am glad I decided to stay in Mobile. It was awesome going to New Orleans during college when I knew a ton of people there, but now I would probably only go if there was a solid crew going down to that I could meet up with. Mardi Gras is enjoyable regardless of where you decide to celebrate. I heard the St. Louis celebrations were a blast as well. Anyway this post is already way to long so I will wrap things up. Next on the list, 175th at SHC. BE THERE.
NOTE:
I have posted some pictures of the Mobile Mardi Gras Celebrations in my Yahoo Photo album for anyone who is interested.
