NEW ORLEANS EVENTS - MARDI GRAS FACTS

1582 - Pope Gregory XII made Mardi Gras official

1699 - Pierre LeMoyne d'Iberville, a French explorer, names his landing site Point du Mardi Gras, holding the first recorded celebration of Mardi Gras in the U.S

1711 - First Mardi Gras parade is held in Mobile, Ala. by the Boef Gras Society

1743 - The first Carnival ball is held.

1746 - African-Americans begin their own Mardi Gras celebrations by parading as the Mardi Gras Indians, naming their krewes after Native-American tribes

1780 - Masking is forbidden by the Spanish governor.

1783 - First black Mardi Gras group is formed, the Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association

1827 - Ban on balls is lifted

1837 - The newspaper reports that masking is again flourishing during Mardi Gras.

1857 - Mistick Krewe of Comus is formed, proving to the media who had called for an end to Mardi Gras that masking can be a safe and fun event for everyone

1872 - Rex, the King of Carnival, forms to give the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff a Mardi Gras he won't forget

1892 – Rex holds the symbolism of colors parade, and assigns meaning to the Mardi Gras colors – purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power

1896 - Les Mysteriouses, the first major female krewe, forms, holds a masked ball and disbands.

1909 - The African-American Zulu organization holds its first parade, parodying Rex.

1916 – Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, originally called The Tramps, changes its name and is officially incorporated

1934 – First group parades on the West Bank - Alla

1941 – Krewe of Venus, the first parade to have all female riders, rides as a displeased crowd throws garbage at the women

1949 - Louis Armstrong returns to New Orleans to ride as King Zulu. He is the first celebrity monarch.

1950 - The Duke and Duchess of Windsor visit Mardi Gras and bow to courts of Rex and Comus.

1958 - The first gay krewe, Yuga, has its Carnival ball raided by police.

1969 - Bacchus, the first superkrewe, forms with more riders, bigger floats and Mardi Gras begins its transformation into a tourist attraction.

1972 – Last year parades roll through the narrow French Quarter streets due to safety concerns as the parade floats and number of attendees continues to steadily increase

1974 – The Krewe of Endymion is deemed a Super Krewe because it becomes the largest krewe in Mardi Gras history

1988 – State Legislature passes the Coconut Bill, which states that coconuts cannot be thrown from the Zulu floats due to injury, but can be passed to the crowd—the coconut is one of the most sought Mardi Gras throws

1992 - The city passes an ordinance requiring krewes to integrate their memberships in order to get parade permits. Several old-line krewes stop parading.

1994 - Harry Connick, Jr., helps form the Krewe of Orpheus, a new superkrewe with integrated membership and a musical orientation.

1996 - Le Krewe D'Etat forms to bring back satirical style parades. Other satire krewes follow.

2000 - The Krewe of Muses, a large new women's krewe, forms.

2002 – This Mardi Gras season was split because of 9/11—a week of parades, a week of Sugar Bowl festivities, and the last week of parades—all of which were monitored by troops

2006 – One week of parades is held just six months after Hurricane Katrina, and New Orleanians and Mardi Gras lovers gather in the devastated city for a little normalcy