Beautiful floats from a classic Uptown New Orleans krewe that's been around longer than most…read more So thankful to take the kids to their first Mardi Gras as they are now tall enough to catch their own stuff...way more fun as a kid than going to theme parks in my view. We went to Druids, Nyx, and Hermes...the Hermes float designs and bands were the best. We were on St Charles and Gen Taylor....a bit crowded there, but fortunately some friends had staked out a spot. Realized I have't been to many night-time Uptown parades...growing up went to the daytime ones (Tucks, Iris, Rex, Thoth, etc). Night parades are quite wonderful to view as an adult, but yeah not ideal for keeping track of kids.

This is a solid start to the Friday night parades leading up to the great Fat Tuesday. The floats…read morewere lovely, the parade riders seemed sober for the most part, and they threw a lot of stuff! This is a fast moving parade. A bit from their website is as follows. Founded in 1937, Hermes has paraded longer than any other night parading krewe in New Orleans' Carnival. Held every year at 6:00 p.m. the Friday before Shrove Tuesday. In the early days, float creation emphasized craftsmanship, detail and story, and Hermes is known for upholding these ideals. Hermes is also known for an unusual and longtime tradition, the Walking Parade, held earlier that Friday in the French Quarter. After lunch with friends and fellow float riders, the members, dressed in suits and krewe ties and laden with beads to throw, spill from various restaurants and gather on Royal and St. Louis Streets. High school marching bands thunder to life and lead the procession through the Quarter on its way to dress for the night parade. Hermes was also a Greek mythological being. Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods (Dionysus being the youngest). Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries. He is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods; an intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He has been viewed as the protector and patron of herdsmen, thieves, oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travelers. Again, the only gender neutral restrooms are the port-a-johns set out by the city.

I used to go to Elementary school here. Somewhere along the line they started calling the school…read morefair the oyster festival, but it's just a school fair. They did have people shucking fresh oysters, so I was impressed by that. You could also get oyster po boys, although by the time I got here they were sold out. That's pretty much the extent of the "oyster fest" part. Other booths served turkey legs, nachos, pizza, jambalaya and beer. I decided on the nachos and I have no idea why. They were completely flavorless, but they cost about 3 bucks, so I didn't expect much. After the nachos I decided to treat myself to a snowball. I should preface this by saying that most of these booths are being run by kids. Anyway, the teenager who made my snowball was kind of stingy with the flavoring, so I had to go back and get more syrup. It wasn't too bad after that. There were plenty of booths with games and there was even a rock climbing wall. The highlight was probably the band that was playing. It was a cover band, but I was impressed by the setup of the stage, lights and effects. Things certainly have come a long way from when I used to go to this fair as a kid. All in all it was a good time. It's a fundraiser for the school, so it's all volunteer and all things considered it wasn't too bad.

(This is the same review posted under the St. Cletus School Listing, but I feel like it is…read moreapplicable to both since it's a yearly event.) This is a review for the St. Cletus Oyster Festival. I've been seeing the signs all over the West Bank for the last week and yesterday, when a friend called us up to say they were heading to the West Bank for the Oyster Festival. Cool, we were going to get dim sum anyway so we just changed our plans a little. There'd be oysters, right? Wrong. Why do they call this the oyster festival? Of the various food stands, only one sold oysters at all, in a 16 ticket (or $8) fried oyster poboy. This is just a school festival/fundraiser. Good for the school, good for the kids doing dance routines and begging their parents and other patrons to donate money to the school and their classrooms. It was entertaining to see kids begging for $100 bills on stage but also a little sad. Food we did manage to eat: - Crab and corn bisque: Delicious. Lots and lots of crab. The French bread ends were stale but the soup was flavorful and thick. - Roasted pork fajitas: Sooo tender and yummy. The fajita was like a huge fatty taco, flour tortilla and roasted bell peppers. They had a little smoker/roaster in the back and the meat was hot and fresh, with little bits of crisp skin mixed in with the tender meat. Kids ate: - Disgusting looking bright pink hot dogs. Creeped me out a lot. There were a couple of rides, a couple of games, and lots of Saints attire. We were trying to figure out why it was called the Oyster Festival; was it the school mascot? Would there be oyster races? Do the students cultivate oysters? None of the above. Their mascot is the Colts, there are no oyster races, and I could see no oyster beds or tiny ponds. They need to rename this festival so the disappointment is not so great.

Love Metairie parades as the streets are much cleaner and the atmosphere is more family friendly…read more Went to Argus parade near Veterans and Cleary and in front of the new 85 degrees bakery and cafe. It's great that Veterans is such a wide and well maintained street. Plenty of room on each side of the street, so you're not crowded in. Metairie parades are smaller and simpler than the New Orleans ones, but way better for families with children. It's been like this for decades. Please let the visitors know! The Argus parade is on Mardi Gras day and is followed by the Elks truck parade, so there's a lot of opportunities to catch stuff.

On a dreary, drizzly Mardi Gras Day, the Krewe of Argus knows how to treat people to a good time…read more Every year this Metairie parade seems to get bigger (bigger crowds, bigger floats, more throws). Even with the horrible weather forecast, this year was no exception. Lots of bands, lots of large elaborate floats, lots of cups (seriously... someone threw us a whole sleeve of cups). Argus rolls in front of the crazy truck parades in JP. There really isn't any noticeable transition from one krewe to the next, but that's part of the fun... you can stay and watch all day, if you want.

We came to check this place out on a whim to experience the culture and music of NoLa. I purchased…read more"Ultra VIP" tickets that included, A/C bathrooms, VIP seating area, open bar, food from 2-6pm, a souvenir poster and shirt. GA is a very reasonable $10 in advance or at the doors, VIP was $100, plus fees (~$107) on Eventbrite. Music is the main draw here and it is well worth the $10. While VIP offers some cool perks, I wouldn't purchase it again. Being that this is the first year for the festival, they're going to experience some growing pains, which is understandable. I would give them 5 stars if they had a VIP area closer to a stage, and had a VIP greeter who explained what my $100 got me and where it was. I was just handed a wrist band and left to wonder about looking for the VIP area (not labeled). It would be great if event staff had shirts or some way to identify them. Hopefully the event managers see this and make it even better next year. This is a cool event and you should definitely go. The art, food and music were awesome. If you run/manage this event, please feel free to message me and I can offer some tips to improve your VIP experience.

2026 Return to the Mothership. Another iconic Pussyfooters event!! Blush Ball never disappoints!read more

Before you see them out flaunting their beauty and sweet, sweet dance moves the ladies of the…read morePussyfooters kick off carnival season with Blush Ball. A charity event featuring a silent auction and raffle with a great selection of items from local artist and businesses. Portions of the proceeds benefit the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children. As if that wasn't enough there's music both live and DJ. This year Big Sam's Funky Nation set the place on fire with great music all night long. My date and I also tore up the dance floor thanks to the DJ playing a great mix of pop music in the next hall. However, my favorite part is seeing all the Pussyfooters in one place and all of them sporting amazing costumes and their signature white boots while giving the crowd a sneak peek of this year's new dance routines. If you've never been to a ball during carnival season and want to have a great experience without all the formal boring pompous circumstances Blush Ball is your party!

This is a perfect family parade to go to because everyone is friendly and the crowds are not…read moreoverwhelming. Plus parking is easy breezy as you can park pretty much anywhere within a block or two of the parade route (you won't ever have to park blocks away like at other parades). This year the crowd seemed bigger than in past years. The weather was great so that was probably a big factor. All of us caught plenty of beads but more importantly we caught lots of vegetables! How can you not catch a ton of veggies when you have over 80 floats (most of them double deckers) throwing stuff to you. Family, convenience, booze, and veggies! I love the Irish-Italian parade in Metry!

This parade is a combination for the Irish St Patrick's Day and the Italian St Joseph's Day…read more Looks like people stake our their position way ahead of the start of this parade, as everyone seemed well entrenched when I showed up. Finding a parking spot for this parade was way easy. Most of the perverts..... Um.... I mean guys.... Walking and handing out flowers seemed like they had been drinking for quite some time when they got to where I was standing. One of the guys even walked behind where I was standing, opened the door to a port-a-john and puked in front of the John. Disgusting. I left soon after that. There were families with small children there watching. I am hoping they start out more sober, but who knows. The throws are cabbages, carrots, ramen noodles, beads and fake flowers. The floats were nice. I was only able to catch two strands of beads, but the kids around me seemed happy. Even without catching anything, I would have given the parade more stars had I not witnessed one of the participants in the parade puking in a parking lot. I haven't even seen that first hand in any of the Mardi Gras parades I have been to. Amazingly not cool. The only gender neutral restrooms are the port-a-johns set out by the city. But look before you walk in and pop a squat.

As far as I'm aware, this has been going on since 2009 and it is put on by the Bucket Brigade…read more There is one stage, and a whole bunch of tents set up selling GREEN items, or passing out information about their organization. It is located right on the bayou at Orleans Ave. and Moss. This year I paddled down on my friend's canoe and drank mimosas while watching Flow Tribe and Debauche play for free. There was a gorgeous Live Oak shade tree to sit under, the weather was magnificent, and the people were smiley and giddy. I saw a toddler cut a rug like no child I have ever seen, including a rock split at the end, the worm, and the robot. There was also an old man dancing in circles with a flower shirt on that said "Free Hugs" There aren't too many food vendors, maybe about seven or so, but I had a chicken pita that was a stone cold stunna from Beaucoup NOLA juice co. Other folks were eating big German Brats from what I could see. Beer is $4 and it is for a good cause, but that doesn't stop me from going across to ideal mart and buying a $2 tall boy (sorry environment) This festival is a perfect example of why New Orleans is a very tough city to contemplate leaving. Every time I get annoyed by an minor inconvenience and swear that I am moving someplace like Colorado there is a funky free concert on the bayou with all sorts of crazy odd characters that makes me want to stay. I hope they keep putting this mini version of the Bayou Boogaloo on every year. I also hope that it grows, but not to epic proportions like FQF.

I really enjoyed myself at the Earth Day Festival. The weather was perfect this year…read more I spent a lovely afternoon sitting in the shade, listening to a great musical line-up, watching hoola-hoopers, eating delicious pork sliders and tamales, and learning about different green businesses in the area (holla, Green Project!). Oh, and I loved the solar-powered daiquiri stand.

I got to give it to Metairie. They know how to do Mardi Gras right! Traffic flow is easy before and…read moreafter parade, rarely ever too crowded even on Mardi Gras Day, and Mardi Gras Day is when they have the truck floats. I love these truck floats as they are right behind each other. No need to wait for the next float as there is only a few seconds wait for the next one. They have over 150 truck floats Mardi Gras Day between all the parades that roll down Vets!! The fun starts at 10am and is quickly over by around 1pm. Very family friendly as everyone out here is courteous and friendly. Lots of families come out here Mardi Gras Day. Parking is a breeze as you rarely ever have to park more than one block away. Food is readily available as the parade goes down Veterans Blvd which is the main commercial street in Metairie. Would much rather come here Mardi Gras Day than deal with the parking and crowd issues in New Orleans.