re: Favorite Mardi Gras?

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I'm afraid to lump Mobile in here, but for those who have been, how does it stack up to the others?

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Grew up in Mobile and do Mardi Gras in New Orleans now, so I think I can draw a decent comparison.

New Orleans has more floats and bigger parades for obvious reasons. I like the long route for New Orleans better too, especially with it going through areas with a lot of residential buildings. If you know someone, it's easy to find yourself a home base. The tents and big set ups for semi tailgating is nice too, not a ton of places to do that in Mobile.

Mobile is all downtown, meaning you'll probably need to drive or have a hotel. It's good in that you have a decent amount of bars and restaurants in the general area. Moonpies are a big throw for Mobile, and you don't really see them in New Orleans. The NOLA parades throw better beads though (not that you care post Mardi Gras when you get rid of all the stuff).

The one notable difference is the big days. Saturday for both has the parade everyone loves. New Orleans does Endymion (though on a totally different route than the rest of them) and Mobile the MOTs with the dragon floats billowing smoke. Sunday in Mobile is fun with Joe Cain Day but it isn't the marathon of New Orleans that ends with a super krewe. Tuesday though is a much longer day of parades in Mobile. NOLA has Zulu and Rex, and then a bunch of trucks. Mobile starts at 10 am and goes until nightime with the OOMs.

New Orleans is a better experience, seeing as Mobile is just a smaller version of New Orleans. It isn't the difference between let's say Mamou and New Orleans in terms of how it's celebrated.

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actual =/= original IMO

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It does when you're talking about duplicating it.

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I like what you're trying to do here though

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Huh? I just like Mardi gras. New Orleans is the biggest and most intricate of celebrations, but I like most all of them. But if we're going to act like New Orleans is the one true actual Mardi gras, that's just absurd.

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But if we're going to act like New Orleans is the one true actual Mardi gras, that's just absurd.

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Like I said, I see what you're trying to do.

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Someone was listening to T-Bob and Culotta this morning.

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Ah yes, a bunch of ugly rednecks pounding bud light and hanging out in the back of their pickup trucks in shitty trailer park towns. Truly a world class event.

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The insecurity.

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Been to Mobile, New Orleans, Eunice (only once). Ride in Endymion. Have risen in Bacchus, Olympia (Covington), Crewe of Columbus (Mobile). New Orleans is the best. Mobile seems like a AA version. Eunice was like tailgating back in college

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I was forced to mobile one year by an ex in grad school at USA. It was fun, but no where on the level of New Orleans.
I also ride in Endymion (12 years), rode in Bacchus for 6, 1 as a Paige with Billy Crystal. Grandfather was one of the first to start the Krewe in ‘68. Rode in Thoth, Rex and Caesar. Nothing on earth compares to Endymion Saturday.

ETA: rode Endymion and Bacchus back to back twice. Took off 10 years of my life.

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Grew up in Mobile and do Mardi Gras in New Orleans now, so I think I can draw a decent comparison.

New Orleans has more floats and bigger parades for obvious reasons. I like the long route for New Orleans better too, especially with it going through areas with a lot of residential buildings. If you know someone, it's easy to find yourself a home base. The tents and big set ups for semi tailgating is nice too, not a ton of places to do that in Mobile.

Mobile is all downtown, meaning you'll probably need to drive or have a hotel. It's good in that you have a decent amount of bars and restaurants in the general area. Moonpies are a big throw for Mobile, and you don't really see them in New Orleans. The NOLA parades throw better beads though (not that you care post Mardi Gras when you get rid of all the stuff).

The one notable difference is the big days. Saturday for both has the parade everyone loves. New Orleans does Endymion (though on a totally different route than the rest of them) and Mobile the MOTs with the dragon floats billowing smoke. Sunday in Mobile is fun with Joe Cain Day but it isn't the marathon of New Orleans that ends with a super krewe. Tuesday though is a much longer day of parades in Mobile. NOLA has Zulu and Rex, and then a bunch of trucks. Mobile starts at 10 am and goes until nightime with the OOMs.

New Orleans is a better experience, seeing as Mobile is just a smaller version of New Orleans. It isn't the difference between let's say Mamou and New Orleans in terms of how it's celebrated.

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Gotya. Thanks for the in-depth, breakdown. I was always interested in the Mobile Mardi Gras in comparison to Louisiana's version. I wasn't expecting anything like a Cajun County Mardi Gras, more of a Baton Rouge style. Also, I was curious if they did anything involving the Mobile Bay.

Couple of more quick questions ... why Moonpies? They are made in Chattanooga I believe? Also, does anything else differ? For example, are the Mobile king cakes similar to Louisiana's version?

February 28, 2006, personal reasons.