NEW ORLEANS EVENTS - Mardi Gras Floats

When Mardi Gras celebrations went awry in Seattle, Philadelphia and Fresno in 2001, the New York Times called local Mardi Gras historian Henri Schindler to ask why. "Carnival is so much more than a party or festival," he told them. "It's part of our culture here. It's ingrained in people's psyche. That's why people love it."

Carnival has a long tradition behind it. But to Schindler, it's much more than that. He's devoted his life to carnival. As a young artist he found a mentor who designed parades for several of the most senior Mardi Gras krewes, the social organizations that put on Carnival's major events. Since designing his first parade theme for the 1973 Proteus parade, Schindler has been immersed in Mardi Gras year round.

While many New Orleanians begin thinking about Mardi Gras as Christmas ends, Schindler is already thinking about next year's carnival when the holidays arrive. As the designer of the Rex parade, one of carnival's oldest krewes, Schindler begins working 18-24 months ahead of time to create one of Mardi Gras' most beautiful parades.

Rex embodies carnival's traditions. It hasn't joined the modern trend of double decker and multiple trailer floats. It rides during the day so light displays are not needed. Instead, Rex impresses solely with its artistry. It also maintains the mystery of carnival. The parade themes and royalty are announced as close to Mardi Gras day as possible. All riders wear masks, as is the custom.

New Orleans has celebrated Mardi Gras since its inception. The French party of explorers sent to set up the colony arrived on the banks of the Mississippi on Mardi Gras day in 1699 and marked the occasion. During French rule, carnival was celebrated with masks and revelry. Eventually, "krewes" formed, added parades, then parades with floats. The first floats rolled in 1857. The first seasons with several float parades began in the early 1870s. Rex paraded for the first time in 1872. Proteus formed decade later.

The parades have changed slightly with the times. For a long time, they were solely about the pageantry. New Orleanians came to watch the spectacular night parades, lit by torch and flare bearers. The mule drawn floats shook and every papier mache adornment shimmered. Trinkets weren't thrown until the 1920s. Beads didn't become an obsession until the late 1960s.

In 1969 the creation of Bacchus, called a superkrewe because of the size of its parade, started to turn carnival into a tourist attraction. Bacchus created double decker floats. They loaded them with riders, which meant that there were trinkets galore for parade watchers. Since then the beads have become ever more prized. More parade groups formed as well, ballooning the schedule from the ten or so old line krewes to a crowd of more than 50 parades.

Mardi Gras parades now come in all shapes and sizes and largely courtesy of Blaine Kern and his sons, the first family of Mardi Gras. From Blaine's rather humble beginnings in the late 1940s doing the Alla parade almost single handedly, he's built an empire that stretches around the world of entertainment. In the 1950s, no less than Walt Disney tried to lure him away from New Orleans. But Kern stayed home where his production company now creates 300 to 400 floats every year. They build and supply more than two thirds of the parades in metro New Orleans. But they have float dens around the world and outfit the Orange Bowl Parade, Euro Disney, a theme park in Japan, as well as other event around the United States, including Philadelphia's 4th of July parade.

At the home base in Algiers, just across the river, Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World is the main office and construction site. Kern builds floats for the biggest and best known krewes: Rex, Bacchus, Endymion, Orpheus and Zulu. Those krewes own all of their own floats, and some own their own float dens to house them. Kern's studios also build floats for other krewes, but owns and rents them to the krewes.

In production of Rex, Schindler and Kern work together like a movie director and a producer. When Schindler finalizes a theme he works with a Kern illustrator to work up thumbnail sketches, then large drawings and then full blown watercolors of each float. Then as production of the floats begins, Schindler will drop by the studios every day to consult with the prop builders, float painters and other artists. (Visitors can also drop by Mardi Gras World and tour the float dens).

Kern's artists build floats of all types. Some of the most intricate include fiber optics and computer-run light displays. They also do the most traditional types, like the Rex floats. Whatever twist a parade takes, Mardi Gras is still a spectacle to be enjoyed. While Schindler could easily view his work from any exclusive spot or balcony, he's old fashioned about his love of Mardi Gras. He watches Rex from the sidewalks of Canal Street. You might find him there, but you'll have to look carefully because he wouldn't think of going out on Mardi Gras Day without a costume and a mask.