A house float is a new invention
January 30, 2021 3:12 PM Subscribe
New Orleans folks are decking their homes like they would a parade float. "Megan Joy Boudreaux posted what she later called a silly Twitter joke: “We’re doing this. Turn your house into a float and throw all the beads from your attic at your neighbors walking by.” But the more she thought about it, the more she liked it. She started a Facebook group, the Krewe of House Floats, expecting a few friends and neighbors to join. The numbers rose. Thirty-nine subgroups evolved to discuss neighborhood plans."
She calls it a "parade-at-home order" and "You can still throw things. That's actually a very socially distant activity!"
* "When Beau Tidwell, communications director for the City of New Orleans announced parade cancellations late last year, he was quick to point out Mardi Gras would carry on just in a different way."
* The rise of house floats.
* Amazing house pictures.
* Hire A Mardi Gras Artist.
* Mardi Gras Virtual Parade App can be found here.
* NPR interview.
* Mardi Gras For Y'all Online Festival.
She calls it a "parade-at-home order" and "You can still throw things. That's actually a very socially distant activity!"
* "When Beau Tidwell, communications director for the City of New Orleans announced parade cancellations late last year, he was quick to point out Mardi Gras would carry on just in a different way."
* The rise of house floats.
* Amazing house pictures.
* Hire A Mardi Gras Artist.
* Mardi Gras Virtual Parade App can be found here.
* NPR interview.
* Mardi Gras For Y'all Online Festival.
Aw man, I literally just found more float stuff:
* 'Float houses' are popping up all over New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2021: See 'em all!
* See 40 floats from 26 krewes in City Park’s ‘Floats in the Oaks’ stationary Mardi Gras parade
* What would Dolly do for Mardi Gras? Send her love and lots of posters, hats, and key chains
* ‘Schitt$ Streets’ and other fab float houses rescue Mardi Gras from
coronavirus blues
* What do Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and 3 possums have in common? They share a float house
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:24 PM on January 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
* 'Float houses' are popping up all over New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2021: See 'em all!
* See 40 floats from 26 krewes in City Park’s ‘Floats in the Oaks’ stationary Mardi Gras parade
* What would Dolly do for Mardi Gras? Send her love and lots of posters, hats, and key chains
* ‘Schitt$ Streets’ and other fab float houses rescue Mardi Gras from
coronavirus blues
* What do Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and 3 possums have in common? They share a float house
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:24 PM on January 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
I heard the NPR interview earlier today. I love this idea. I hope it works to keep the carnival spirit alive in the city. The fundraising being done to help preserve the human treasures that give the city its texture was great to hear about.
posted by hippybear at 3:38 PM on January 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 3:38 PM on January 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
Okay. So.
I went down for Mardi Gras last year, because it fell on the same date as my 50th Birthday and I couldn't not. Two of my dear friend met me there, I had an absolutely wonderful time - I joined in on two of the walking krewes prior to and on the day of, explored neighborhoods I'd loved, and generally had a wonderful time - and also, amazingly, managed to JUST MISS the first wave of Covid which apparently was quietly spreading through the crowds while I was there. (I credit the fact that it was my 50th birthday and not my 25th - me and my friends were thus more interested in eating fine, leisurely dinners and going to bed early than we were cramming into bars and drinking cheek-by-jowl with strangers.)
...I....I actually kind of wish I'd been going down THIS year too now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:50 PM on January 30, 2021 [6 favorites]
I went down for Mardi Gras last year, because it fell on the same date as my 50th Birthday and I couldn't not. Two of my dear friend met me there, I had an absolutely wonderful time - I joined in on two of the walking krewes prior to and on the day of, explored neighborhoods I'd loved, and generally had a wonderful time - and also, amazingly, managed to JUST MISS the first wave of Covid which apparently was quietly spreading through the crowds while I was there. (I credit the fact that it was my 50th birthday and not my 25th - me and my friends were thus more interested in eating fine, leisurely dinners and going to bed early than we were cramming into bars and drinking cheek-by-jowl with strangers.)
...I....I actually kind of wish I'd been going down THIS year too now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:50 PM on January 30, 2021 [6 favorites]
....Hang on....
Is this a picture of Mefi's Own ColdChef?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:04 PM on January 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
Is this a picture of Mefi's Own ColdChef?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:04 PM on January 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
Surely if it were, there would be middle fingers extended...
posted by hippybear at 8:13 PM on January 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 8:13 PM on January 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
I was in New Orleans last week and the float houses I saw were amazing- they were so fun and elaborate.
I do have a feeling that even though parades are cancelled, there will still be tons of tourists coming to town and partying. I hope NOLA's cases don't start rising exponentially in the next month.
posted by mollywas at 9:05 PM on January 30, 2021
I do have a feeling that even though parades are cancelled, there will still be tons of tourists coming to town and partying. I hope NOLA's cases don't start rising exponentially in the next month.
posted by mollywas at 9:05 PM on January 30, 2021
Oh, they will, Mollywas. We are so fucked.
“Enough tourists to stay sick, not enough tourists to stay afloat”, as a barista at one of my favorite haunts in the Quarter said when I ventured down there for the first time in months.
——
If I had any kind of Crafts Closet right now I would be working on an absurd papier-mâché dragon for the front of my house. But we are still a giant mess from moving in at the very end of the Before Times. Maybe next year. Or maybe around my birthday. I know it won’t be coming down after whatever holiday I use as an excuse to put it up. Probably with a “Krewe of Fafnir” sign in front of it.
posted by egypturnash at 6:40 AM on January 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
“Enough tourists to stay sick, not enough tourists to stay afloat”, as a barista at one of my favorite haunts in the Quarter said when I ventured down there for the first time in months.
——
If I had any kind of Crafts Closet right now I would be working on an absurd papier-mâché dragon for the front of my house. But we are still a giant mess from moving in at the very end of the Before Times. Maybe next year. Or maybe around my birthday. I know it won’t be coming down after whatever holiday I use as an excuse to put it up. Probably with a “Krewe of Fafnir” sign in front of it.
posted by egypturnash at 6:40 AM on January 31, 2021 [5 favorites]
These are GREAT - thanks for posting, jenfullmoon.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:39 AM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by soundguy99 at 7:39 AM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
Megan's a friend of ours.
She is *so* busy this season but she's a doer and this is a fantastic outlet for pandemically pent-up passion!
posted by djeo at 8:07 AM on January 31, 2021
She is *so* busy this season but she's a doer and this is a fantastic outlet for pandemically pent-up passion!
posted by djeo at 8:07 AM on January 31, 2021
I have friends that are doing this in Dayton, Ohio!
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 9:10 PM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 9:10 PM on January 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
Washington Post, NYT, Better Homes and Gardens, and Yardi Gras video.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2021
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2021
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