Analysis
A Tale of Two Mardi Gras Cities
November 18, 2020: Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans are dead. The surrounding areas may or may not follow suit.
In Mobile, things right now are akin to a slasher flick – everyone waiting to see which parade is the next to go. Will it be the cheerleader or the bookworm with a crush on the cheerleader?
Most in the Mardi Gras community figured as far back as April that we would probably face this situation to one degree or another: Fat Tuesday looming fairly close, the virus raging merrily on, decisions having to be made.
The city governments of both Mobile and New Orleans looked like they were going to sit back and say, “Hey, we want Mardi Gras, as long as we can do it safely, so let’s plan Mardi Gras.”
That way, if having some parades and even some fancy-dress balls is possible, everyone is ready to go. Plus, people who have to garner votes (mayors) don’t have to pull the plug and make people mad at them.
For whatever reason, New Orleans gave every appearance that it was well along that path then suddenly on Tuesday canceled all Mardi Gras parades. The krewes and the community were all but stunned at the timing and the way it was done (very poorly).
In response, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson pointed out that the New Orleans health officer works for the mayor of New Orleans. But the head of the Mobile County Health Department, Stimpson said, Dr. Bernard Eichold II, is more or less independent.
Without saying so, Stimpson seemed to be saying that the New Orleans mayor has to take ultimate responsibility for Mardi Gras, while he simply makes sure we all do whatever Eichold says we have to do.
Keep in mind, the two cities have had very different pandemic experiences. 1. New Orleans already canceled Jazz Fest 2020. That was a huge blow – not Mardi Gras huge, but pretty huge. 2. Back in the spring, New Orleans was a national-level COVID-19 hot spot. They had it bad, and their “return to normal” has been much slower than Mobile’s. 3. A CDC report blamed Mardi Gras 2020, at least partly, for the deep wound COVID made in New Orleans so early. 4. New Orleans is fast returning to its old COVID numbers.
So the city of Mobile is now accepting parade permit applications from Mardi Gras organizations. And while at least six downtown parades have been canceled by the organizations themselves, there are some groups that have made it known in the community that they will parade unless someone specifically tells them they can’t.
Stimpson told the Mobile City Council on Tuesday, just an hour or two after word went out that New Orleans had canceled its parades, “our position is going to be that we will follow the guidelines that are put out by the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Mobile County Health Department.”
Eichold has said in the past that it’s not really up to him to cancel parades or balls, it’s up to him to establish how they can be done safely. “Let’s do the most we can to contain the transmission of the disease, so our hospital capacity is not challenged,” Eichold told the Mobile City Council on Tuesday.
And come December 11, he pointed out, the governor’s current limitations are due to run out, unless she further reduces them or cranks them tighter.
“We have made sure that everyone (in the mystic societies) understood that they were taking a risk by moving forward,” Eichold said, the inference being that things could get worse, and the plug might yet be pulled.
These organizations, however, are uniquely used to that threat. Every year, they take on their Mardi Gras plans knowing that the weather could postpone or even cancel their event.
As for specifics so far this year, the Mobile city attorney has determined that, according to the governor’s current orders, a Mardi Gras float is limited to nine maskers per side, per level. That’s 36 maskers to one float. That, frankly, should not be a burden to any parading organization.
Those on the floats or in the bands or whatever are always six feet or more from the crowd. If the float riders wear proper face coverings, they should be safe from each other, right? Heck, they’ll be better off than college football players, who are not wearing masks on the field.
Then there’s the crowd itself. No one has really addressed that.
“Let’s face it,” Stimpson said Tuesday, “there cannot be anybody that does not know what you’re supposed to do about COVID. For six to nine months, that’s all we’ve talked about it seems.”
Stimpson was talking about the basics: masks, social distancing, hand washing.
Parades would, of course, be outside. Our president argued that being outside made his rallies OK. People at his rallies – most of whom were not wearing masks – stood around for hours, fairly tightly together, and then spent some time doing lots of yelling.
Then there was Sturgis, protests, Labor Day parties, the end of the Notre Dame game, lots of things that threw together lots of people who were taking few, if any, precautions.
In nearly every instance, experts pointed to what they believed were mini-surges in the wake of many of those events, including the political rallies.
But what if the city adopted the same technique restaurants have been using and marked every other section of barricade as off-limits to revelers? Then encourage folks who go to the parade to claim a section of their barricade for their so-called pod, using tape, ribbon, beads, etc.
It could be done.
But then we’re all left with the question: Should it be done? Is it worth it?
To some, it isn’t. And those folks have canceled parades or won’t go to any parades in the name of preserving health and stopping the spread.
To others, it is. Mardi Gras is a big part of Mobile’s legacy and identity. There are those who think it should go on if it can be done relatively safely.
Order of Myths, Mobile, Mardi Gras Day
Rita
about
5 years
ago
(from left) Ike, Rita,
Rita's daughter Sissie, circa 1980
Change in Bowl Game Sponsorship
Will Not Affect the Parade
May 15, 2023: It was announced today that Mobile’s bowl game, heading into its 25th meeting, has changed general sponsors for the fifth time. And for the first time, the sponsor is local: a Daphne-based company known as 68 Ventures.
The immediate question for the Mardi Gras community is whether or not this change will affect the popular Mardi Gras-style parade that usually rolls the night before the game.
The short answer, according to Mike Laird, who oversees the parade for the bowl game, is, “No. The parade will go on as it has.” In fact, Laird said, work has been underway to improve the parade for mother the riders and the revelers. Specifics are still being worked out, he said.
68 Ventures, according to a news release, “is the parent company for numerous operating businesses along the Gulf Coast which focus on development, investment and construction …” It is “the largest single-family developer within the region, deploying well over a billion dollars in capital, and reaching the ranks as one of the top 100 private home builders.”
The parade also usually has sub-sponsors, Laird said. As of last year, those sub-sponsors were Greer’s Market and Cashsaver as well as This is Alabama, a division of Alabama Media Group.
The parade is usually made up of floats from Mobile Mardi Gras organizations, and riders usually come from those organizations and their family members. There’s plenty of throws, and for seven of the last eight years, the parade has had a decidedly Christmas-y feel since it was held just a few days before Dec. 25.
The actual date of the first 68 Ventures Bowl will be announced “sometime later this month,” according to the news release, but it did refer to the upcoming contest between a Sunbelt Conference team and a Mid-American Conference team as a “December matchup.”
Just to review, the bowl game itself began its life in 1999 as the Mobile Alabama Bowl. By 2001, it was the GMAC Bowl for nine years. Then it was the GoDaddy Bowl for six meetings, the Dollar General Bowl for the next three contests, and the Lending Tree Bowl for the last four.
“We have gone through sponsorship change a few times, and the parade has continued on,” Laird said. “The general sponsor really doesn’t get involved in the details of things like the parade."
Mayor Latoya Cantrell, New Orleans
Infant Mystics Den Suffers Substantial Fire
October 8, 2020: Cotton Hall, the mid 19th century Late Federal-style building that serves as a den for Mobile’s second-oldest Mardi Gras parading society, became engulfed in flames early this morning.
Called in at 6:49 a.m. by an off-duty firefighter from Engine 8, the responding units found “heavy flames and thick, black smoke visible from the 3-story” building, according to Steven L. Millhouse, public information officer for the Mobile Fire and Rescue Department.
Less than 20 minutes after arriving, fire officials on the scene declared the blaze a three-alarm fire. Before it was over, 11 engine companies, four ladder trucks, and more than 60 firefighters had been sent to the scene.
No one was injured in the blaze, and no cause has been determined. The fire department did not say if a point of origin had been determined.
Ladder companies cut two 4-foot by 4-foot holes in the roof to let gases, heat, and smoke escape from the building, Millhouse said. He said that while “much of the interior suffered significant damage from flames, smoke, and water, the structure remains intact.”
Tonight, this statement was released by the Infant Mystics: “The Infant Mystics and the Board of Directors, officers, and benefactors of Historic Restoration Society, Inc., are extremely grateful for the efforts of the Mobile Fire Rescue Department in battling this morning’s fire at Cotton Hall. First and foremost, we are thankful that no one suffered any physical harm.
“Secondary to that, though, the very fact that the building remains standing serves as a monument to the professionalism and dedication of the Department’s firefighters. We wish to convey our sincere appreciation to all of the firefighters and other first responders who answered this morning’s alarm and assure each and every one of them that their bravery and skill will be forever admired by us all.”
Originally known as the Protestant Children’s Home, the building was designed by Henry Moffatt of Philadelphia, and construction was started in July 1845. It was built as an orphanage, initially for protestant children whose parents died of yellow fever.
The structure was ready for occupancy on March 31, 1846, and was designed to house up to 40 boys and girls. Boys were housed until the age of 12, when they were expected to enter the workforce. Girls could remain until the age of 15, although some stayed until 18. The children attended public schools. A vegetable garden was planted on the 2-acre property, and a milk cow was always present.
Over the years, major renovations were done and wings and buildings were added to the property. It served as an orphanage until 1970.
The Protestant Children's Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and it became the location of Mobile City College. In 1985, the building housed Mobile Business College. After several other uses, it sat vacant until it was purchased in 2014 by the Historic Restoration Society, a nonprofit formed by David J. Cooper Sr.
Between $2 million and $3 million was spent refurbishing the building in what was universally hailed as a grand and gorgeous result.
The complex, which will eventually house the floats of the Infant Mystics, was named Cotton Hall in honor of the IMs, whose logo includes a cotton bale because so many of the original members were in the commercial end of the cotton business.
The main building was in more-or-less full use by 2018, and the Maids of Mirth have held their Mardi Gras ball there for the last two years.
Weddings, fundraisers, and other events have been held there throughout the calendar year.
UPDATE: Cause of IM Den Fire Undetermined
July 19, 2021: The Mobile Fire and Rescue Department’s investigation into the October 8 blaze at Cotton Hall – home of the Infant Mystics – has been concluded but not closed, according to MFRD spokesman Steven Millhouse, because the actual cause of the fire remains undetermined.
Meanwhile, according to the Infant Mystics, repair work is expected to begin on Cotton Hall in another month, and structural repairs – including a new roof - should be completed before Mardi Gras 2022. Interior work will go on quite a bit longer.
According to a basic incident report filed by the MFRD, the first alarm was received at 6:49 a.m. on October 8 for 911 Dauphin Street, and the fire required the services of nearly 80 MFRD personnel before it was over at roughly 11:30 a.m.
The report listed property and contents losses of more than $130,000.
Reportedly no one was in the building at the time the fire started, and there were no casualties reported throughout the course of the incident. The Infant Mystics reported that they knew of no irreplaceable artifacts being lost in the blaze.
An “interior stairway or ramp” was listed in the report as the “area of fire origin,” but “heat source,” “item first ignited,” and “type of material first ignited” were all marked “undetermined.” The report also said there were no “human factors” “contributing to ignition.”
The investigation itself is not closed, Millhouse said. “It’s no longer an active investigation, but if information comes to light, we can pick that up and investigate,” Millhouse said.
Originally known as the Protestant Children’s Home, the building was designed by Henry Moffatt of Philadelphia, and construction was started in July 1845. It was built as an orphanage, initially for protestant children whose parents died of yellow fever.
The structure was ready for occupancy on March 31, 1846, and was designed to house up to 40 boys and girls. Boys were housed until the age of 12, when they were expected to enter the workforce. Girls could remain until the age of 15, although some stayed until 18. The children attended public schools. A vegetable garden was planted on the 2-acre property, and a milk cow was always present.
Over the years, major renovations were done, and wings and buildings were added to the property. It served as an orphanage until 1970.
The Protestant Children's Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and it became the location of Mobile City College. In 1985, the building housed Mobile Business College. After several other uses, it sat vacant until it was purchased in 2014 by the Historic Restoration Society, a nonprofit formed by David J. Cooper Sr.
Between $2 million and $3 million was spent refurbishing the building in what was universally hailed as a grand and gorgeous result.
The complex was named Cotton Hall in honor of the IMs, whose logo includes a cotton bale because so many of the original members were in the commercial end of the cotton business.
The main building was in more-or-less full use by 2018, and the Maids of Mirth have held their Mardi Gras ball there for twice.
Weddings, fundraisers, and other events have been held there.
From the 2022
bowl game parade
May 21 Parade to Celebrate USS Mobile (LCS-26)
May 14, 2021: In one week – Friday, May 21 – a Mardi Gras-style parade, including 29 floats, seven marshals on horseback, and six marching bands, will roll through downtown Mobile as part of the celebration of the commissioning of the USS Mobile on May 22. The 6:30 p.m. parade will be broadcast live on WJTC-TV UTV 44. Our map of the parade route is below.
Channel 15’s Darwin Singleton will be announcing the parade over loudspeakers from the balcony of the Battle House Hotel on Royal Street. It’s expected that many of the Navy VIPs and other dignitaries will be watching the parade in that immediate area.
At 9:30 that night, according to the USS Mobile Commissioning Committee, there will be “fireworks over the Mobile River.”
The theme of the parade, according to its coordinator, Judi Gulledge, is Celebrating Mardi Gras and Mobile, Alabama. The floats of 21 parading organizations (not all of the city’s Mardi Gras parading groups) will appear in the order of the year each group was founded. This parade will have more floats than any nighttime combination downtown during Mardi Gras 2020. A couple of daytime combinations, including the Joe Cain Procession, were longer. For example, Mobile Mystics, followed by Mobile Mystical Revelers, followed by Mobile Mystical Friends was a total of 37 floats.
Keep in mind that most of the floats in the May 21 parade will be emblem floats. A few of them will not be throwing at all. Several others were not built for many riders. Here, then, in order, is the lineup for the parade:
Color guard from Robertsdale High School
2 Mobile Carnival Association marshals
Excelsior Band
Chief Slac wagon with marchers
Order of Myths – Folly and Death
Infant Mystics – Cat float
Knight float
2 Knights of Revelry marshals
Knights of Revelry – Folly float
Mobile Bay float
Murphy High School Band
Crewe of Columbus – Emblem float
Santa Maria float
Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association – Emblem float
Mystic Stripers Society – Zebra float
Mystics of Time – Title float
Verna
Vigor High School Band
Maids of Mirth – Emblem float
Title float
Order of Athena – Emblem float
Order of Inca – Sun Worshipper float
3 Conde Cavaliers marshals
Conde Cavaliers – Emblem float
Blount High School Band
Pharaohs – Emblem float
Mobile Mystics – Emblem float
Title float
Neptune’s Daughters – Emblem float
Title float
Williamson High School Band
Order of Butterfly Maidens – Emblem float
Order of Angels – Mobile Azalea City float
Conde Explorers – Emblem float
Dauphin Street float
B.C. Rain High School Band
Order of Isis – Emblem float
Order of Doves – Emblem float
Order of Many Faces – USS Alabama float
Mystic Order of DJs – Emblem float
Fire Truck
Polka Dots logo,
designed by Rita
At the end of this year's Crewe of Columbus parade, the group touted its upcoming 100th anniversary
This is a blog of Mardi Gras-related news items from the Mobile area and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast:
Photos provided by MFRD
Groups Receive Civic Center Rules for 2021
September 10, 2020: The ball chairs of the 16 or so Mardi Gras organizations that use the Mobile Civic Center for their fancy-dress balls have received a long-awaited letter from ASM Mobile, the company that manages the Civic Center, the Convention Center, and the Saenger Theatre.
The big news is that the Civic Center and Convention Center are, at this point, willing to host Mardi Gras balls in this age of pandemic.
Dated September 9 and sent by email, the three-page letter was attributed to Kendall Wall, general manager of ASM Mobile.
To read the letter in its entirety, click HERE.
Some of the big takeaways include:
- No Civic Center contracts will be written until early November, at least.
- Maximum arena occupancy for the tableau will be 550 at tables, 1,050 in the seats. That number will go up when other parts of the Civic Center complex are brought into play.
- The dance floor will be reduced to 60 feet by 80 feet. Two bands will be allowed to perform.
- The North risers will be eliminated to allow for additional floor tables.
- Face coverings will be required.
- All balls must end by 1 a.m.
Groups will soon start meeting with their Event Managers to iron out specific plans, which must be finalized at least 30 days before the ball.
"This is a situation where we're all going to have to be as flexible as we can," Kendall Wall said today. "But they're trying to make plans, and so are we. We have to move forward."
Wall sent a similar letter to the half-dozen or so organizations that use the Convention Center for balls.
The ASM Mobile staff has been working closely with the Mobile County Health Department, Wall said, and "we know these organizations have been thinking about all of this. We're really anxious to see what they've come up with, too."
One organization, he said, has talked about putting up a big tent outside the Civic Center to help spread everyone out. "We've never used the Theater before, but maybe we could do that, use it for food or a VIP area. There's a lot of possibilities."
Wall said he knows that cost will be a big consideration, since the biggest organizations will have to cut their ball attendance by more than half. "We are really going to try and work with them on pricing," he said.
"The governor's current order runs out October 2, and we'll see what she does at that time," Wall said. "So much has changed in a short period of time. There's no reason to think that things won't continue to change, and we'll alter plans with those changes."
Conde Cavaliers ball in the Mobile Civic Center, 2002
Mardi Gras News
Ike Felis's daughter, Rita, dead at 94
August 20, 2021: Rita Delores Roell Skidmore, daughter of famed Mobile float builder Ike Felis, died in New Orleans on August 5 at the age of 94. She was a native of Mobile and a longtime resident of Houma, Louisiana.
Rita designed and built floats with her father for many years, including floats for the Crewe of Columbus, Mystics of Time, Maids of Mirth, Comic Cowboys, and the Floral Parade.
She was certainly one of the first – if not the first – women to design and work on Mardi Gras floats in Mobile. Fittingly, she designed and helped build the floats for the first parade of the Order of Polka Dots, the first women’s Mardi Gras organization to parade in Mobile.
Rita was, in fact, one of the 20 charter members of the Order of Polka Dots, formed in 1949, and she designed the OOP logo depicting the Gypsy Queen, that’s still used today. She also designed and helped her father build the six floats for the first Polka Dots parade in 1950.
Rita attended Convent of Mercy High School in Mobile and worked in defense plants at Brookley Air Force Base during World War II, calibrating flight instruments for military planes.But Mardi Gras seemed to always be a part of Rita’s life. According to her son, Floyd Roell Jr. of West Linn, Oregon, his parents first met in the Crewe of Columbus float barn in the very late 1940s. “My father went to see Ike about creating a stage set for a fraternity event. My mother was there working on some floats.”
In the spring of 1951, Rita and Floyd Edgar Roell Sr. were married.
Rita is also survived by a daughter, Rita Ann Roell of Daphne, and another son, John Roell of Napoleonville, Louisiana; 10 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and three great-great grandchildren.
Floyd Sr. also became deeply involved in Mardi Gras and joined a new mystic society shortly before he married Rita. His future father-in-law and his future wife designed and built some of the first floats for that organization.
In Rita’s obituary, it says that she and her father were “instrumental … in starting the Joe Cain procession, attending the original gathering in 1967.”
Later, she and her husband Floyd Sr. designed and built floats for the Gulf Coast Carnival Association in Biloxi, Mississippi. By 1980, the Roells moved to Houma, according to Floyd Jr., for Floyd Sr.’s job in the oil and gas business.
Ike Felis died in 1984, and Rita’s husband, Floyd Roell Sr., died in 1991.
In 1993, Rita married Floyd Sr.’s old roommate and fraternity brother at Spring Hill College, James R. Skidmore. He died shortly before the year 2000.
Rita’s obituary described her as “a talented artist, seamstress, and a wonderful Creole cook, known for her potato salad and the ‘best damn pot of gumbo this side of heaven.’ She was a big football fan and rarely missed a New Orleans Saints game.”
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a memorial gift to the Mobile Carnival Museum or the Order of Polka Dots.
Rex, New Orleans, Mardi Gras Day
OOP Emblem float,
designed by Rita
Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Mobile
The Effects of COVID-19 on Mardi Gras 2021
March 26, 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic is only starting to make itself felt in the Mobile area, affecting all aspects of our lives.
Those in the Mardi Gras community know that even though Fat Tuesday is more than 10 months away, the pandemic is affecting their timelines.
All agree that they have to move forward, as if Mardi Gras 2021 will go on as scheduled. The question is exactly how to get there, with important meetings being canceled or postponed, elections to be held, even events and fundraisers coming up soon.
Mobile Mask surveyed some mystic societies and others in the Mardi Gras community and found that everything being on hold – for now – is affecting some important events on their schedules.
One president said his organization has postponed its Annual Meeting. “We plan to evaluate the situation again the week of April 6, with the hopes that we can have our meeting at the end of April or postpone again until late May.”
His organization may have to cancel its annual family day at their float barn. Planning is moving forward for the group’s big fundraiser coming up in August.
Reportedly one group has canceled its Annual Meeting but will conduct its election on paper ballots. The ballots must be placed in a ballot box on a specific day.
Judi Gulledge, executive director of the Mobile Carnival Association, said she has been receiving questions that simply don’t have answers at this point.
She did point out that when the economy takes a downturn, mystic societies and other organizations feel it in their budgets, too, because some members drop out. That can cause a board to make different decisions about spending.
“One thing I do know,” she said, “is people find a way to celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile.”
The Mobile Mardi Gras Parading Association has its next meeting scheduled for April 8, and most likely that will be canceled. The organization’s last meeting before the summer break would normally be held May 13.
For one organization, Mardi Gras 2021 is especially important. The Crewe of Columbus will be celebrating its 100th anniversary, and details such as theme and floats, costumes, and ball are moving forward as they should.
According to the Admiral of the Crewe, the organization’s Annual Meeting, scheduled for April 20 may very well be postponed. For the Crewe, and most other organizations, the summer is normally not utilized for meetings, so pushing some dates forward will be less difficult.
One mystic society held its Annual Meeting on March 12, before any restrictions were widespread. The Board has canceled the April meeting, when the Queen and Emblem and Ball Chairman are normally announced. They will instead make those announcements live on their Facebook Page.
Still another organization has simply suspended meetings for the time being, and its Board is handling business via text messages. “We are unsure of the effect this will have going forward,” one Board Member said.
Just for historical context, Mardi Gras in Mobile has been officially canceled twice in modern history.
During World War I, referred to at that time as The Great War, Mardi Gras was officially canceled in 1918 and 1919. Interestingly in 1919 Mobile’s Board of Health recommended canceling 1920 Mardi Gras as well because of the pandemic of the so-called Spanish Flu. The City Commission refused to cancel, but the festivities were trimmed down.
And during World War II, there were no parades between 1942 and 1945.
In New Orleans, Mardi Gras was essentially canceled in 1979, due to a police strike.
Other than that, storms, floods, fires, recessions have beaten down Mardi Gras organizations – even put a few of them out of business – but as Judi Gulledge said, “people find a way to celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile.”