So in the last two weeks, I've gone to two different parades. Parades are kinda a tradition around here, and went first to a "second line" parade and then a week later, to a "first line."
So the second line was on Easter, and it was the first one that I'd gone to - and was it fun. We showed up and there were all these barbeques going in the back of trucks, and people with these coolers on wheels, and everyone seemed to know each other. And they were all gathered around talking around the first block or two. So I found a place to watch the parade, thinking, "well, they'll go right by here and I'll have a good view."
Well, it turns out that second line parades, what they do is that instead of waiting for the parade to come to you, everyone goes to the parade and dances along with it. So it starts out on 1st street, then within a few minutes, no one is on 1st any more, 'cuz they've all moved to 2nd. And the food people, they all drive along with the parade.
All the pics that I took, it looked like people were just standing around, so I tried out the movie option on my camera, and got a little movie with the sound of the band.
Matt said that lots of these kinds of parades will have these ringer musicians, so they're professionals that the parade people knew, and they'll walk along with the parade. The one I was watching had that, and they had some people who were members of the Original Pigeon-town steppers and social club, but others were musicians that they recruited.
It was more of an experience than a parade, it was pretty cool.
Anyways, so then the next week I went to the Irish-Italian first line parade. And that was more like the regular parades they have up north. The parade comes to you instead of the reverse.
So Matt & I park the car and then walk a quarter of mile from the parking lot, past one of the staging areas (that looks like it started the party early) and the parade slowly comes along, kinda meandering it's way down one of the busiest streets in Metairie.
Matt runs off to go take some photos, and I look at the first few floats, and the crowd waves at the float and the people on the float throw them beads. So I think I have the system all figured out, and so on the next float, I wave at the people on the float and they throw down a package of pasta.
So now I have to carry this around? And the lady standing next to me says, "yup, that's why we bring these big bags and boxes." She went on to tell me that she was making "Parade Stew" that night. And then someone thew a potato at me.
Matt said that he was wounded by a carrot, but he seemed okay. Turns out they throw all sorts of fruits and veggies off the floats. Cabbage seems to be popular, but I don't know why.
If I'd known that they were throwing bananas, I wouldn't have gotten them when I went grocery shopping that morning.
We stayed for about an hour, and then Matt had to go take pictures of something else, then we went for lunch at a place that was just off the parade route, and the parade was still going on, so we wandered down to check it out.
Lots of parade stuff still going on. Then, just for fun, we drove over the overpass that went over the parade, and took photos out of the window - unfortunately, I was driving too fast, so no good pics from that...
So that was pretty exciting, and I got potatoes and pasta and beads, so I think it all worked out well. Someone at work told me that at the Mardi Gras parades, they throw coconuts that are decorated out of the float, and they beaned too many people and were sued - so that the city passed an ordinance that you had to hand the coconuts off of the float to people. But no laws against cabbages. Yet.
Anyways, it was a good time... Talk to you later...
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