Category: Krewes

Krewe of Fools crowns King Leo as group continues its tribute to French Quarter buskers

The Krewe of Fools will choose King Leo as its next monarch during a Lundi Gras celebration and the public public is invited to commemorate the group’s 16th year of paying tribute to the men, women, children and animals who are the French Quarter’s street performers.

Warpo Cole, one of the krewe’s “founders” told The Quarter Rat that King Leo “does a great juggling and balancing act” and has been a staple in the French Quarter for at least a few years.

The party begins on Monday at noon in the 600 block of Dumaine Street, where Fools will serve red beans and rice, show some street performances for anyone to watch, coronate King Leo and also march throughout the French Quarter.

While it’s only an informal krewe, Cole described Fools’ as more of group of artists engaged in a “mobile party” and its king as an an inspirational individual who actively supports the French Quarter busker community, whose members are periodically hassled city officials simply for the act of entertaining the public.

Walking through the French Quarter on any given day of the year, you’re bound to notice people playing music, singing, doing card tricks or dressed as characters. Tips are highly encouraged, but not mandatory. Cole said Buskers are a core part of the neighborhood’s history.

“There have been buskers in NOLA as long as the city has existed,” Cole told The Quarter Rat. “Jesters have always had the ear of the king. Buskers interact with people from every race, income, gender, political party etc. We bring people together and do our best to produce smiles.”

Street performers are not appreciated by everyone, as they are the target of New Orleans Police and/or French Market security personnel in sweep operations, Cole said. He added: “We have the freedom to not worry about whether a ‘boss’ is going to fire us for something we say or do, at the same time we know we can be arrested like anybody that crosses the boundaries of social proprieties of any kind. All our actions are in a spotlight, so we’re both a target, and a social bridge.”

Krewe of Fools started off as a party in 2011, when about a dozen people dressed up for Mardi Gras and and wandered around the French Quarter, according to Cole.

Today, he said Fools’ is pretty much still a party, albeit a bit more organized. The krewe adopted the motto “Pro Bono Ridiculum,” meaning “for the good of the weird” in Latin, and whose purpose is to “celebrate, preserve, protect, promote the art of street performance in New Orleans.”

Kings are selected among street performers who inspire other buskers, Cole said, adding that the monarch is also someone whose appearance is easily recognizable and thus easier to emulate in costume form. Which means that if you do attend the coronation ceremony, you’re highly encouraged — perhaps even obligated — to come dressed as King Leo.

Fools tried to uses horses in its march for two years, but Cole said the cops were rather insistent with obtaining permits. Since then, and as always, Fools was a party with friends gathering every year to honor each other’s contribution to what makes the French Quarter an extraordinary neighborhood.

“We are Fools after all,” Cole said, “and don’t like paper work or responsibility.”

Joan of Arc parade, Société Des Champs set to start 2026 Mardi Gras

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.

NOPD investigates shooting death near Decatur, St. Philip streets

New Orleans Police are investigating a shooting death of a man that occurred near the intersection of Decatur and St. Philip streets on Saturday, officials said.

Records show that police responded to the shooting at about 9:01 p.m. NOPD officials said the shooting occurred in between the railroad tracks and the Mississippi River, near the intersection.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the NOPD, which did not identify the man. Suspect information was not provided.

The shooting was near the route of the annual Krewe of Boo Halloween parade, which occurred earlier in the evening.

Krewe of Chewbacchus cancels Jan. 23 self-guided parade due to modified Phase One restrictions

(Photo: Krewe of Chewbacchus | Infrogmation | CC)
The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus, the Star Wars-named krewe known for its walking parade, announced Monday that it will cancel its Mardi Gras festivities scheduled later for this month due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Chewbacchus replaced its 11th annual walking parade with a self-guided tour of stationary subkrewes. This year’s theme was “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and was scheduled to run on Jan. 23.

The cancellation comes after New Orleans moved into modified Phase One restrictions on Friday due to surging rates of the coronavirus, which was reported at 10.4% last week–up from 5.5% the prior week, according to local health officials.

The krewe was already planning for its scaled-back walking tour, which was announced on Dec. 7. Instead, a virtual costume contest will now replace the walking tour.

Krewe of Chewbacchus replaces 2021 parade with self-navigated ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ themed route, stationary subkrewes

“With the recent decision by the city of New Orleans to move to modified Phase 1, the 2021 celebration and all subKrewe activities will be halted,” according to Chewbacchus. “We are trusting the science and directing all krewe members to suspend their planned celebrations”

Instead, the krewe will hold a virtual costume contest and asking its krewe members, and the public, to post photos of their Chewbacchus costumes on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #chewbacchusnewreality2021.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced on Jan. 6 that the city will enter modified Phase One restrictions due to the surging coronavirus rate.

The restrictions, which will last three weeks or until Jan. 29, include limiting indoor business capacity to 25%, gathering sizes to no greater than a single household. Bars are prohibited from serving customers indoors, although to-go drinks are still allowed and outdoor seating is still allowed from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. New Orleans bars, breweries and live entertainment venues were ordered closed by 11 p.m.. Dec. 30.

“We’ve always made decisions based on data, every step of the way,” Cantrell said during a Jan. 6 press conference, citing a “serious issue with community spread.” “We’ve always made decisions based on data, every step of the way.”

Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of New Orleans Health Department, said the city is averaging 200 new cases each day, indicating a major community outbreak with one in every person infected, on average.

“When you are with 10 other people, it is highly likely that one of them will have COVID-19,” Avegno said. “The more people who have it, the more will be hospitalized and more will die.”

New Orleans recorded a cumulative total of 23, 252 coronavirus infections and 689 deaths from the disease since the pandemic started in March, with an additional 380 new infections and two deaths reported Sunday.

City officials have released an vaccine distribution plan, with vaccinations of healthcare workers and nursing home residents beginning in December and essential workers likely up next this year.

Orleans Parish bars ordered to close indoor operations due increasing COVID-19 rate

Krewe of Chewbacchus replaces 2021 parade with self-navigated ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ themed route, stationary subkrewes

(Photo: Krewe of Chewbacchus parade in 2016. | Infrogmation | CC Flickr)
A self-navigated tour with decorated businesses and houses will replace Krewe of Chewbacchus’ signature walking procession, which was slated to roll next month but canceled due to a New Orleans ban on Mardi Gras parades issued in November as a measure to limit spread of COIVD-19.

The 11th annual event, dubbed the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the New Reality – Volume One,” will include an online brochure with a map of stationary subkrewes issued within a week of the start date on Jan. 23, 2021, according to a Monday announcement from the krewe, formally called The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus.

Each station represents a “chapter” in the guide where visitors along the route can receive Chewbacchus’ prized hand-made throws. The krewe announced that anyone not following the guidelines won’t receive a throw. Krewe members will also be masked and physically distanced 6 feet apart.

The Star Wars-named and science fiction-themed krewe held its first parade in 2010 and is also a nonprofit, and religion, or The Cult of the Sacred Drunken Wookie. In the past several years, the Chewbacchus parade has started in the Bywater and passed down Decatur Street in the French Quarter. It’s a walking only krewe, meaning members don’t ride on floats pulled by motor vehicles, but still have bikes or any type of human-powered “contraption” that’s able to roll.

“Chewbacchus will embark on its eleventh annual adventure, this time navigating the impossible terrain of socially distanced parading during a global pandemic,” the krewe said on Monday. “Life finds a way.”

While not outright canceling Mardi Gras 2021 itself, because it’s a religious holiday, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s decision to cancel parades was not formally announced even though the information was posted to the city’s website, according to spokesman Beau Tidwell during a Nov. 17 press conference.

“It’s not a matter [that] the information didn’t get out there, but it could’ve gone out more artfully,” Tidwell said. “I think the larger conversation has always been, given where we are, given the conditions, parading isn’t possible.”

A list of “criteria” and “recommendations” was issued by the Health Committee of the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory Council and posted to the city’s website, including that krewes not organize any event that would cause crowds to grow beyond the 250-person limit for public gatherings set by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards in March.

Spectators along the route will be encouraged to keep moving by participating in a treasure hunt-like contest to find a list of rare artifacts with clues that reveals the location of a grand prize package, which includes lifetime membership to the krewe and rights to the title of “Ultimate Survivor of the New Reality.”