But I went to my very first Mardi Gras parade on Sunday and it suffered the opposite problem. It was “family friendly.” And you know that can’t be good for Mardi Gras.
I’m guessing that family-friendly distinction is why, although much of Oak Cliff is considered the gayborhood, flamboyance was in very short supply. So was music. Not so much as a high school marching band. The Libertarian float had a pounding disco beat, but it came and went so fast. There was no dancing in the streets of Oak Cliff for this.
With all due respect to the monumental volunteer effort required for any community event, this parade bore no resemblance to the festive debauchery that is synonymous with Mardi Gras. It barely resembled a parade. The highlight for me was a float from a local sports bar, Alley Oops, which managed to misspell its name on its sign. How does such a thing happen?
I watched the parade with friends and we all did our very best to have fun, helped by high-octane margaritas. Here, along with some casual tipsy commentary, is a condensed two-and-a-half dull minutes of what actually took about 30 dull minutes to unfold. But for some reason, the very dullness of the whole thing makes me laugh. Maybe you had to be there, but the beaded cop just about does me in. And the Segways. God help us, the Segways...
What do we learn from this? Perhaps that, like Las Vegas, Mardi Gras is not meant to be family friendly.
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