Throw Me Something, Mister!

Yes, that is the standard Mardi Gras yell!  Throw me something, Mister! Ya just gotta yell it!

If you have never been to Mardi Gras, you are missing  one of the great joys in life!  No one can stand by a parade route and be unhappy.  And worse yet, no one can just stand there and not yell for beads!

Artemis is an all female krewe and generally the first to roll in Baton Rouge, after the CAAWS Mystic Krewe of Mutts that is.  Which was last Sunday.

We stood on the street waiting for the parade to roll.  First come the police motorcycles and the high school marching bands.  And the extra tractors in case one of the tractors pulling a float has a problem. 

Everybody throws stuff!  From the radio station cars to the floats;  from the King and Queen and the Dukes and Pages and Parade Marshalls. 

And EVERYONE on the floats!

Lots of opportunity to catch stuff!  Between each float are marching bands and dance groups strutting their stuff.  And there are always horses and horse brigades and carriages. 

In the old days, like when I was young, there were flambeau carriers that light front o the floats with real fire staffs they carried high over the street.  It was way cool!  I miss the beauty of the lighted flambeaus. 

What do they throw?

Beads, stuffed toys, ring, bracelets, frisbees, candy, lighted sticks and alligator heads, doubloons and
 beads.  Some throw fruit, I got hit in the head with a banana at one point. 




And you can't take your eyes off of everyone on the float -- because when you do you get hit in the head with something hard and fast. 




 My favorite things were these blinky rings and a huge set of bright red lips!  LOL. 






As you can see, Sawyer cleaned up in his first parade.  Must be all his New Orleans genes!