Dont Rain on Our Parade...



Our Camp



A view of the Neutral Ground



Got up early Saturday. Watched Special Morning Weather Report on TV at hotel...was not looking good: call remained for 100 percent "chance" of rain starting late am and going into late afternoon or even early evening. 2 of the early (noon) parades had already rescheduled. So far the biggest parade of them all- Endymion- was still scheduled to roll at 4:15pm. Last year this parade was cancelled due to rain and rescheduled- as well as moved from its traditional Mid-City route which was a really big deal..so far tho looked like the parade would still be on today. Our plan was to have some breakfast then cab it (Canal Streetcar and buses were not running due to parade) up to sis's house which is only 1 block off the beginning of the Endymion parade route. I realized we were close to Mother's Restaurant so that's where we went for breakfast- as we ate our biscuits,sausage and eggs- we noticed a group of Endymion krewe members waiting in line- costumes and bags in hand- so was really looking more and more like the parade was going to be a go..Finished breakfast and made our way up to my sister's. Canal Street and all streets along the parade route had folks setting up their spots for the parades...Some people had tents, chairs, ladders or whole campsites. These actually started appearing about 3 or 4 days before today- people down here take parades- and especially this parade- pretty seriously. There also were parking lots along the route with RVs and other parade "campers"- this was gonna be something special...Around noon, arrived at sis's and we decided we should go mark out a spot on the route. I found some old paint cans, a piece of wood and a tarp and we headed over to the avenue. Crowds were continuing to gather- despite the dire weather forecast- and we spoke to a group who had been camping out since the nite before (one young guy said his older brother pays for them to have their own port-o-potty if they will stay out overnite and "guard" the family spot). Anyway, we found an empty spot (there were'nt many- people had even taken to spray painting the grass with their marks in order to save a spot) and set up our camp (see picture at top). That done we went back to sis's house to wait and see re: weather..Right now was nice and warm- overcast but not raining...more and more people were gathering- but it was only 1 o'clock...still a few more hours til parade to start..While hanging out at my sister's we kept an eye on weather report-everything pointed to the worst weather coming right before parade time-in fact it was now being reported that the parade had been pushed back to 5:30 from 4:15pm to try and get better weather but all indications were the parade was going to roll. About 3:30 pm it started pouring- we were lucky because we were sitting inside but there were hundreds-maybe even thousands- who were congregated on the neutral ground (ie grass median down the parade route) or along the streets who were now getting wet. The rain slowed and then re-started for the next hour. Finally, around 4:30 we decided to head over to our spot- we took our umbrellas and other rain gear. Just about 5:30 when the parade was to roll it started to rain again- not pour but it was coming down pretty good. At this point- the parade was going to roll no matter what..and roll it did- the first couple of floats came by and they were empty of people- because of the rain the royal court and King and Queen were not on the float (Note: this is a "super krewe" with almost 1500 riders; they have a huge after parade party in the SUPERDOME!...they drive their floats right into the stadium and have their big party with thousands of krewe members and their families). The parade continued and the rest of the floats did have riders and there were lots of throws. After a while the rain tapered off and it was just wet. Everyone who was out on the route had a good time and cheered on the riders and the numerous high school marching bands who had braved less than ideal weather to put on a show. All in all, it worked out but definitely not the best conditions for a parade.
See video below of BEFORE the parade as the floats are being moved into position.