Mardi Gras rocks the South

When one lives in the old South, it's not necessary to travel to become involved in Mardi Gras festivities.

The Mississippi Coast has a myriad of parades from Pascagoula and Moss Point on the east to Bay St. Louis and Waveland on the west. And there are plenty of towns in-between that help fill up to the time leading to Fat Tuesday.

Mardi Gras is early this year, coming on Feb. 12. And that usually means there will be cold weather to contend with.

But the two weeks leading up to the Ocean Springs parade this past Saturday, temperatures have moderated and Saturday was a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 60s with sunny skies. Reports indicated that the turnout was the largest ever.

And I can believe that. The parade route ran within a mile of our house so wifey and I headed toward downtown and set up our camping chairs under the oaks at a place called the Mary C which is the original high school now an arts center.

The crowd was large, the festivities entertaining and the people well-behaved.

It was the first time in a number of years that we attended the parade and we had an enjoyable time.

Next post: Feb. 5, 2013