Krewe of Endymion Mardi Gras Parade
I love a good parade. Who doesn’t? The parades during Mardi Gras season in New Orleans and surrounding areas are a unique experience. Rather than being a spectator and watching the floats, bands and other exhibits roll by, the viewer becomes an active participate in the parade. The main attraction is trying to catch the beads and novelties which the float riders throw at you. It is easy to become caught up in the excitment of the parade. This year the weather was perfect on a Saturday night when the Krewe of Endymion’s parade was scheduled to take place. So, like thousands of other folks, we hopped into our car and headed to New Orleans to watch the parade. In addition to the countless floats, the krewes who host the parades also their flaunt their queen, king and princesses who are decked out in elaborate costumes. The king, queen ahd court are an intregral part of the Mardi Gras Krewe’s carnival events. It is a magical scene, in my opinion.
Here are two of the princesses.
According to their WEB site: “Endymion is one of only three Super Krewes, and with upwards of 3,000 riders, it is by far the largest parade with the largest crowds in Mardi Gras! Endymion features 37 floats. Many are tandem units with up to nine sections, meaning Endymion rolls on over 80 chassis! The motto of the Krewe is “Throw Until it Hurts” and we toss over 15 million throws along the parade route!” (Source: https://endymion.org)
The Krew of Endymion has been in existance since 1967. Last year, their founder — Ed Muniz (1940 – 2023) — passed away. And so the parade was dedicated to this man. The theme of this year’s parade was “Silents are Golden.” In additional to hosting the parades, these krewes are society and social oganizations.
Yes, it is quite a show! The floats are double decker high, and often two or three floats are hitched together. The riders on each float are all dressed in similar costumes. The only parking spot which we could locate was about a mile away from the beginning of the parade route. So, we walked quite a distance to the parade. These riders were headed for their float, too. Only males are allowed to ride on Endymion floats. Each rider has a specific assigned spot on the float and each float is managed by a senior “Captain.”
By the time the float rolls, these riders will be wearing masks.
These riders looked like they were getting ready to have a good time! One year, all the riders of the parade arrived to their floats on chartered busses. These men just had to get their own parking spot and locate their way to their assigned float in the parade.
We opted to stand at a location close to the beginning of the parade route which weaved through the mid-city section of New Orleans. Even though we arrived several hours early, we were still about 10 rows back from the street. Woops, we were also about the only folks who forgot to dress in Mardi Gras colors — gold, green and purple.
These fellows pictured above were on float #34 out of 37 floats towards the end of the parade. However, as this float passed us, I am sure that they didn’t recognize us. I managed to get a photo anyway.
The parade took four hours to pass by us. It began at 4:30 pm in the afternoon. So, by the end of the parade, it was dark. The floats were lit up with lots of LED lights, making for a spectacular show.
The first contingent of the parade usually consists of mounted policemen. One year, the mayor of New Orleans rode on a white horse along with the police. That was quite a surprise to see the mayor mounted on a horse.
The floats towards the front of the parade feature the king, queen and court of this year’s carnival event. Each krewe has a different system for selecting their royalty. Often the process is a secret event, and the king is revealed towards the end of the carnival season. Endymion uses a lottery at its coronation ball to select their king and announces the year’s royalty close to the time of the parade. This year the luck young man was Andrew Morris Pitai.
The co-grand marshals in 2024 were New Orleans city officials — the city’s administrator CAO Gilbert Montano and new NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.. Sydney Raymond was selected as this year’s Endymion queen. The queen is chosen for her service record and is selected from a group of debutantes. Undoubtledly her family has a long history of loyalty and involvement in the krewe.
We were lucky to experience a special treat this year. One of the two Budweiser Clydesdale horse teams who tour the country was part of this years parade. They were positioned towards the beginning of the parade and passed use around 4:45 pm while it was still light. The parade halted — for unknown reasons — for about 15 minutes and the horses stopped right in front of us.
The unit consists of eight Clydesdales horses. They were meticulously groomed and elaborately outfitted.
We had a great opportunity to view the horses along with their green and gold beer wagon. Each horse appeared to have his own handler. Each horse can weigh two tons. With eight horses, this is alot of strength on display and I am told that the horses can run at a fast pace. Although the horses are bred to be docile and are well-trained, you can imagine the consequences if they started to take off.
A dalmation with patience rode on the coach along with the drivers. According to Anhouser Bush: “Dalmatians were known as coach dogs because they ran between the wheels of coaches or carriages and were companions to the horses. Since the 1950s, Dalmatians have traveled with the Budweiser Clydesdales hitch, perched atop the wagon proudly seated next to the driver.” (https://www.anheuser-busch.com/about/clydesdale)
When not touring around the country, the team of horses and handlers reside at the Anjeurer-Busch breweries compound and farm in St. Louis.
In addition to the floats, many other exhibits are part of the parade. One of my favorites is the masked horse riders and flambeau carriers (plural for flambeau or a flaming torch) who walk along the parade route. This is an old tradition dating back to 1857. Originally, flambeaux were needed for revelers to see the carnival parades at night. These were traditionally slaves and free men of color who carried rudimentary burning crosses which were made of pine-soaked rags. Later these evolved into oil-burning lanterns or gas lanterns mounted on metal trays and long poles. Now, the floats are lit by massive LED lights displays. But, the flambeau carriers still exist on night-time parades out of nostalgia for the “old ways.”
Masked horse rides also accompanied the parade towards the beginning of the parade procession.
Here is another view of several masked horse riders.
Marching bands are certainly part of the parades and a unit marches between every float. It is quite an honor for the band to be selected. These young people come from all over the country.
Since we were stuck so far back from the street, we were able to see only a glimspe of some of the marching groups. This ingenious group had attached LED lights to their drums to light them up. What an innovation!
After the parade is finished, the Krewe of Endymion floats with their riders go to either the superdome or convention center for a grand party which lasts until 3:00 am. Lots of great singing groups are invited to perform for the audience. This year’s entertainers included Sting, Flo Rida, The Mixed Nuts, Groovy 7 and The Wiseguys. This party is by special invitation only!
If you are planning to visit Louisiana to experience Mardi Gras festivities, make sure to include the Endymion Krewe’s parade on your list of things to do. This is hosted by one of three super-krewes in New Orleans and is the grandest parade of them all. What are the 3 “super-krewes” in New Orleans? In addition to Endymion they are the krewes of Bacchus and Orpheus. These krewes are given this informal designation because of the sheer number and size of floats and riders, originality of the floats and contemporary themes and inclusion of celebrities in the krewe’s festivities. Bacchus parade is scheduled on the Sunday nite prior to Mardi Gras and Orpheus rides the Monday nite prior to Mardi Gras.
It iwas difficult to select images for the blog post. So, the Endymion Mardi Gras Parade Gallery contains additional photos of the parades. Enjoy! Hope to see you here next year.
