A house float is a new invention
January 30, 2021 3:12 PM Subscribe
New Orleans folks are decking their homes like they would a parade float. "Megan Joy Boudreaux posted what she later called a silly Twitter joke: “We’re doing this. Turn your house into a float and throw all the beads from your attic at your neighbors walking by.” But the more she thought about it, the more she liked it. She started a Facebook group, the Krewe of House Floats, expecting a few friends and neighbors to join. The numbers rose. Thirty-nine subgroups evolved to discuss neighborhood plans."
She calls it a "parade-at-home order" and "You can still throw things. That's actually a very socially distant activity!"
* "When Beau Tidwell, communications director for the City of New Orleans announced parade cancellations late last year, he was quick to point out Mardi Gras would carry on just in a different way."
* The rise of house floats.
* Amazing house pictures.
* Hire A Mardi Gras Artist.
* Mardi Gras Virtual Parade App can be found here.
* NPR interview.
* Mardi Gras For Y'all Online Festival.
She calls it a "parade-at-home order" and "You can still throw things. That's actually a very socially distant activity!"
* "When Beau Tidwell, communications director for the City of New Orleans announced parade cancellations late last year, he was quick to point out Mardi Gras would carry on just in a different way."
* The rise of house floats.
* Amazing house pictures.
* Hire A Mardi Gras Artist.
* Mardi Gras Virtual Parade App can be found here.
* NPR interview.
* Mardi Gras For Y'all Online Festival.
Aw man, I literally just found more float stuff:
* 'Float houses' are popping up all over New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2021: See 'em all!
* See 40 floats from 26 krewes in City Park’s ‘Floats in the Oaks’ stationary Mardi Gras parade
* What would Dolly do for Mardi Gras? Send her love and lots of posters, hats, and key chains
* ‘Schitt$ Streets’ and other fab float houses rescue Mardi Gras from
coronavirus blues
* What do Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and 3 possums have in common? They share a float house
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:24 PM on January 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
* 'Float houses' are popping up all over New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2021: See 'em all!
* See 40 floats from 26 krewes in City Park’s ‘Floats in the Oaks’ stationary Mardi Gras parade
* What would Dolly do for Mardi Gras? Send her love and lots of posters, hats, and key chains
* ‘Schitt$ Streets’ and other fab float houses rescue Mardi Gras from
coronavirus blues
* What do Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and 3 possums have in common? They share a float house
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:24 PM on January 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
Okay. So.
I went down for Mardi Gras last year, because it fell on the same date as my 50th Birthday and I couldn't not. Two of my dear friend met me there, I had an absolutely wonderful time - I joined in on two of the walking krewes prior to and on the day of, explored neighborhoods I'd loved, and generally had a wonderful time - and also, amazingly, managed to JUST MISS the first wave of Covid which apparently was quietly spreading through the crowds while I was there. (I credit the fact that it was my 50th birthday and not my 25th - me and my friends were thus more interested in eating fine, leisurely dinners and going to bed early than we were cramming into bars and drinking cheek-by-jowl with strangers.)
...I....I actually kind of wish I'd been going down THIS year too now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:50 PM on January 30, 2021 [6 favorites]
I went down for Mardi Gras last year, because it fell on the same date as my 50th Birthday and I couldn't not. Two of my dear friend met me there, I had an absolutely wonderful time - I joined in on two of the walking krewes prior to and on the day of, explored neighborhoods I'd loved, and generally had a wonderful time - and also, amazingly, managed to JUST MISS the first wave of Covid which apparently was quietly spreading through the crowds while I was there. (I credit the fact that it was my 50th birthday and not my 25th - me and my friends were thus more interested in eating fine, leisurely dinners and going to bed early than we were cramming into bars and drinking cheek-by-jowl with strangers.)
...I....I actually kind of wish I'd been going down THIS year too now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:50 PM on January 30, 2021 [6 favorites]
....Hang on....
Is this a picture of Mefi's Own ColdChef?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:04 PM on January 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
Is this a picture of Mefi's Own ColdChef?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:04 PM on January 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
I was in New Orleans last week and the float houses I saw were amazing- they were so fun and elaborate.
I do have a feeling that even though parades are cancelled, there will still be tons of tourists coming to town and partying. I hope NOLA's cases don't start rising exponentially in the next month.
posted by mollywas at 9:05 PM on January 30, 2021
I do have a feeling that even though parades are cancelled, there will still be tons of tourists coming to town and partying. I hope NOLA's cases don't start rising exponentially in the next month.
posted by mollywas at 9:05 PM on January 30, 2021
Oh, they will, Mollywas. We are so fucked.
“Enough tourists to stay sick, not enough tourists to stay afloat”, as a barista at one of my favorite haunts in the Quarter said when I ventured down there for the first time in months.
——
If I had any kind of Crafts Closet right now I would be working on an absurd papier-mâché dragon for the front of my house. But we are still a giant mess from moving in at the very end of the Before Times. Maybe next year. Or maybe around my birthday. I know it won’t be coming down after whatever holiday I use as an excuse to put it up. Probably with a “Krewe of Fafnir” sign in front of it.
posted by egypturnash at 6:40 AM on January 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
“Enough tourists to stay sick, not enough tourists to stay afloat”, as a barista at one of my favorite haunts in the Quarter said when I ventured down there for the first time in months.
——
If I had any kind of Crafts Closet right now I would be working on an absurd papier-mâché dragon for the front of my house. But we are still a giant mess from moving in at the very end of the Before Times. Maybe next year. Or maybe around my birthday. I know it won’t be coming down after whatever holiday I use as an excuse to put it up. Probably with a “Krewe of Fafnir” sign in front of it.
posted by egypturnash at 6:40 AM on January 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
These are GREAT - thanks for posting, jenfullmoon.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:39 AM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by soundguy99 at 7:39 AM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
Megan's a friend of ours.
She is *so* busy this season but she's a doer and this is a fantastic outlet for pandemically pent-up passion!
posted by djeo at 8:07 AM on January 31, 2021
She is *so* busy this season but she's a doer and this is a fantastic outlet for pandemically pent-up passion!
posted by djeo at 8:07 AM on January 31, 2021
I have friends that are doing this in Dayton, Ohio!
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 9:10 PM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 9:10 PM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
Washington Post, NYT, Better Homes and Gardens, and Yardi Gras video.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2021
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2021
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