First, understand that Mardi Gras in New Orleans is more than a day. It’s a season. We’ve already had several parades and a lot more to come before the big bacchanal, which this year is on March 5.
All around the city separate krewes plan their big event. And Saturday we say the “Krewe of Chewbacchus” parade.
It’s a riff on the Krewe of Bacchus, one of the “super krewes” of Mardi Gras. Their parade is probably the biggest, the star of the season, held the Sunday before Fat Tuesday.
“The Intergallactic Krewe of Chewbacchus” (using Chewbacca of Star Wars) is a science fiction-themed group that puts on a very special parade of its own. Their mission, as they say on their website:
“The mission of the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus is to save the galaxy by bringing the magical revelry of Mardi Gras to the disenfranchised, socially awkward and generally weird masses who may have never had the opportunity to participate in a mardi gras parade organization. Through our works, we hope to elevate all aspects of fandom and celebrate Carnival in our unique way.”
And oh it works! There’s a real homemade, do-it-yourself feel to the two-hour plus parade as people indulge their sci-fi fantasies. There were, I guess you’d call them sub-krewes, representing pretty much any sci fi or fantasy fixture you can imagine. All with a panache and a sense of humor. It was fun.
The place we (Tori, and our friends Sheila and Mike Kelly) found ot watch the parsade from was down near the river and it was probably the worst lit section of the parade route No street lights. That was OK, because all the entries had some kind of lighting. But it made photography difficult. In the first place I hadn’t brought my good camera, so was stuck shooting with my phone. And it was kind of dark. So most of my photos are of dramatic looking blurs of light. But I can’t stop myself from shooting.
These are the best I could salvage from the bunch.
BaurLife 