Mardi Gras in New Orleans is officially here, with the Joan of Arc parade and the Société Des Champs Elysée streetcar ride ready to start the 2026 season Tuesday in the French Quarter.
The events fall on Epiphany, or the Christian holiday commemorating the three wise men visiting baby Jesus and bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The day is also known as or Three Kings Day, which kicks off the celebratory span of time that lasts more than a month and culminates on Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday.
Known as the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc, the group formed in 2008 and now holds the first parade of the Mardi Gras season. It’s a two-hour medieval-inspired walking procession that starts at 300 N. Front St. and ends at the corner of French Market Place and Barracks Street.
The krewe is slated to begin assembling at 5:45 p.m. at the starting point and the parade begins at 7:30 p.m.
Several stops occur along the way, including a king cake ceremony at Oscar Dunn Park across the street from Jackson Square and a brief pause to sing happy birthday at the Joan of Arc statue where North Peter and Decatur streets converge.
Joan of Arc’s birthday is generally accepted to be Jan. 6, 1412, although the exact date of her birth was never recorded. At the age of 17, Joan of Arc helped a demoralized French army beat back the English during the siege of Orléans in the Hundred Years War after claiming to be guided by divine visions. She was burned at the stake in 1431.
A map of the parade route can be found at joanofarcparade.org.
The Société Des Champs Elysée, also known as La Société Pas Si Secrète Des Champs-Élysées or The Not So Secret Society of the Elysian Fields, has held its streetcar ride since 2017.
The ride starts at 7:30 p.m. at the intersection of North Rampart Street and Esplanade Avenue, and proceeds southwest down North Rampart until the streetcar reaches Union Passenger Terminal near Loyola and Howard avenues.
The streetcar then turns around and heads back down the same route until reaching its starting point.