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Mid-city parade kicks off start of Mardi Gras season
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BATON ROUGE- Mid-City Gras, Baton Rouge's newest parade is already getting preparing to roll again for the second time.
"Last year was our first parade, and we were overwhelmed with the response," said parade president Twanda Lewis. "We had over 1500 people attended, 400 participants."
The parade was a long time coming and with Mid City becoming one of the hottest areas for restaurants, the timing was perfect.
"They tried for years, and years, and years to pull this together, and finally we got a good group of people together who are committed to making this happen, to showcasing what is all of mid-city," said Lewis.
To kick off the start of Mardi Gras season, the Mid City Gras organizers held an Epiphany celebration.
Even though the parade won't roll for another seven weeks, attendees got a couple of lessons on proper participation. The float-riders toss hand-made throws all of which are acorn themed, which is why their mascot is a squirrel.
"There are a lot of squirrels in mid-city and flamingos are already taken and everything so we kind of figured like squirrels are universal in mid-city," said a participant.
Although squirrels may not be unique to mid-city, organizers say the parade itself is.
"We pride ourselves on being very inclusive. We want to showcase all that is mid-city. All the diversity, all the equity, everything involving mid-city and we pride ourselves on inviting everybody to attend," said Lewis.
The parade is set for February 24.
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