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I don't attend Marti Gras celebration here in St Louis but I've heard the city hosts the 2nd largest celebration in the country.
I would bet Mobile area has the second largest, behind New Orleans. Mobile goes on for weeks, with parades every day, sometimes twice a day. And balls, and luncheons. People bring their RV's and park under the raised interstate to camp for the duration.
I would bet Mobile area has the second largest, behind New Orleans. Mobile goes on for weeks, with parades every day, sometimes twice a day. And balls, and luncheons. People bring their RV's and park under the raised interstate to camp for the duration.
To be fair, in most places that celebrate it, the Mardi Gras events and parades last over a week and sometimes multiple times a day in each. At least in the Gulf towns (from Galveston to PCB Florida). I’m not sure about St Louis.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right about Mobile having a larger Mardi Gras than St Louis. I often hear locals from St Louis, Mobile and Galveston each say that they have the second largest Mardi Gras after a Mardi Gras. Heck someone even made a bold Austin claim in this thread above. Guess everyone wants that second place trophy
Nope. I didn’t mention Austin because Austin isn’t a city to be mentioned here. Austin doesn’t have a city wide Mardi Gras celebration the way Galveston and the rest of the region of the gulf as described has. Austin is no different from Houston in the Mardi Gras aspect. Galveston is in the Houston metro so it gets a lot of pull from Houston for Mardi Gras. I could potentially see more Mardi Gras activity in Austin than Houston simply because Galveston is a short drive in Houston. but not for the reasons described. Other wise cities like Chicago would have higher Mardi Gras celebrations
Carnival bigger in Austin than Houston? I’d have to see that. There’s a fairly sizable annual Carnaval. Would be hard to believe Austin would have something bigger given the demographics of the 2 places.
Regardless, neither touch the region described when it comes to Mardi Gras
It's been many years since I tried to go out for Fat Tuesday but when I was in college 6th Street would get very busy that night. There is also a decent sized Carnaval celebration in Austin. I don't know how it compares to the equivalent event in Houston.
But I'm not suggesting it compares to the cities that actually have a historical celebration of Mardi Gras. That was the entire point if you read my post lol. The big Mardi gras celebrations come from French settlers. Elsewhere it's just an excuse to party on a Tuesday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag
But I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right about Mobile having a larger Mardi Gras than St Louis. I often hear locals from St Louis, Mobile and Galveston each say that they have the second largest Mardi Gras after a Mardi Gras. Heck someone even made a bold Austin claim in this thread above. Guess everyone wants that second place trophy
Uhh what? You are going to have find where I said anything about Austin being anywhere close to "second largest Mardi Gras". All I said was that it had a "pretty big" celebration on Fat Tuesday and for Brazilian Carnaval.
Many posters saying it's not celebrated further inland overlook that Hattiesburg partake in it as well.
Hattiesburg only has had Mardi Gras parade for about 12-13 years.
When you dig down deep regardless of whatever benefits or motivations main thing seems to be tourism, that is drawing people with an event.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans and few other spots are huge tourist events drawing persons and media coverage from all over state and country. Same as with Carnivale in Venice, Italy and any of the major similar events that have gone on for ages.
Persons away from Gulf coast in Texas, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana are well aware of buzz that surrounds main Mardi Gras celebrations. In past many would have wanted nothing to do with such things, but in this modern tech/information age we live in feelings change.
There is a whole culture behind Mardi Gras in Louisiana (and other areas) that is far more than just parade.
For many Catholic and some Christian societies events at Mardi Gras caps off social season that starts sometime in autumn (September), picks up steam around Christmas and goes into overdrive by January. The arrival of Lent and all its connotations brings and end to social season until spring (Easter).
It's no coincidence that in New Orleans and elsewhere debutante balls start happening summer and run until days before Lent (Mardi Gras).
I don't attend Marti Gras celebration here in St Louis but I've heard the city hosts the 2nd largest celebration in the country.
I can promise you it doesn’t lol
Just looking at how many people attend says enough of who’s the biggest
Galvestons says 350k people attended Mardi Gras, St Louis claims 750k, but Mobile had more than a million visitors (1.1 million) go to Downtown for Mardi Gras this year (which doesn’t include the 20+ parades that happens out in the suburbs in Mobile and Baldwin Counties that sees between 10k to 50k visitors each parade)
New Orleans is a little bigger than Mobile’s at about 1.5 million estimated visitors
Last edited by InlandWave; 02-15-2024 at 08:49 PM..
I don't attend Marti Gras celebration here in St Louis but I've heard the city hosts the 2nd largest celebration in the country.
St. Louis has French cultural roots up to about 1830/1840 so that is a good excuse to have a big party. I would be surprised if it was bigger than Mobile's.
Uhh what? You are going to have find where I said anything about Austin being anywhere close to "second largest Mardi Gras". All I said was that it had a "pretty big" celebration on Fat Tuesday and for Brazilian Carnaval.
You said I didn’t mention Austin. I don’t see why Austin was to be mentioned. I agree with you that a place like Austin or Chicago gets an uptick in bars as an excuse to drink but that’s just a Mardi Gras themed night kind of thing. Not a major Mardi Gras celebration like you see in the Gulf Coast. In those towns, Mardi Gras takes over the entire city from the schools to city hall.
My response to what people are saying about St Louis. Maybe the origins are a bit peculiar. But I think the fact it made it this far is a complete success. And even if the French heritage is “revived” rather than held continuously, it’s still a good mark on the heritage.
I’ll try to go to all of the big carnival and Mardi Gras celebrations in the world one year at time, and see
You said I didn’t mention Austin. I don’t see why Austin was to be mentioned. I agree with you that a place like Austin or Chicago gets an uptick in bars as an excuse to drink but that’s just a Mardi Gras themed night kind of thing. Not a major Mardi Gras celebration like you see in the Gulf Coast. In those towns, Mardi Gras takes over the entire city from the schools to city hall.
I mean for that you got your answer on the second post? The French settled the gulf coast and brought this tradition there. Perhaps there are 1-2 non-French exceptions; I don't know the story about Galveston for example. But, one can imagine they saw neighboring areas having a good time and copied the idea. The interior South was dominated by Baptists who were more conservative.
I mean for that you got your answer on the second post? The French settled the gulf coast and brought this tradition there. Perhaps there are 1-2 non-French exceptions; I don't know the story about Galveston for example. But, one can imagine they saw neighboring areas having a good time and copied the idea. The interior South was dominated by Baptists who were more conservative.
Galveston was first settled by the French. I think by pirates from New Orleans area.
Para to answer your question as to why the bigger inland metros don't celebrate Mardi Gras while the coastal ones do is because the inland metros don't have the same quality of French settlements.
Shreveport was founded around the same time as Houston. After Louisiana was an American territory and more importantly AFTER the French revolution.
The Cities that have strong ties to Mardi Gras have a strong tie to French Catholicism because a significant portion of their early population has ties to pre- revolution France.
New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston etc either predate the French Revolution or were founded by residents of places that predate the revolution. Galveston and New Orleans were strongly connected in Galveston's early days. The Pirate Jean Lafitte was significant in the histories of both.
I think 1800ish is significant to the question. That's the climax of two significant things, the French Revolution and the related Louisiana purchase.
Catholics were persecuted in France during their revolution so even if newer French arrivees came to cities in Louisiana or wherever AFTER the French revolution they won't be as heavily tied to Catholic traditions as the French who came to America before the revolution.
Houston and Shreveport were founded in the 1830s largely by American Southerners. Dallas was founded in the 1850s by southerners.
The Gulf Coast cities where Mardi Gras is big has that pre- Revolution French Heritage.
Not all cities in Louisiana have that old French heritage.
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