The Krewe of Green Acres Court

There are many memories that I hold dear about having grown up on the Gulf Coast. When we lived in New Orleans, my favorite time of the year was Mardi Gras season. The music, the costumes, and the regular parades leading up to the big day were great fun. One year, though, it inspired a group of us to make our own parade.

Before I get into the story allow me to set the stage, so to speak. Every parade in Mardi Gras is put on by 'krewes'. These are social groups that pay dues like other clubs. Each krewe has either a king or queen and a royal court of attendants. When it's time for their parade, they ride on their assigned float and throw strings of beads and small coins called doubloons to the crowds. When my dad took part in one, seeing him and my mother get dressed up in formal attire for the ball that always came a night or two before the parade made me want to do that too. I was not the only kid on my street that thought this way, either.

So one day, my friends and I made up our own krewe. Before we knew it, we had most of the little kids on our block taking part, and the Krewe of Green Acres Court was born. I must have been about nine years old. Many of my neighborhood friends were a little younger, but we all played together from time to time. So it was no surprise to the parents when we collected about five or six little red wagons. Each wagon had a box or milk crate if we could find one, covered with a blanket or bath towel. We gathered up all the beads, trinkets, and doubloons that we had caught at real parades, and each wagon had those too. Construction paper, poster boards, and toilet paper decorated each 'float'. Because we lacked marching bands, we played music with harmonicas, toy drums, tambourines, and kazoos. Our parade route was very simple - we went up and down our street. And we took turns being 'king' or 'queen'. We also took turns being on the float or being the crowd, catching all the things thrown from the floats. If you were on the float, you sat in the wagon and threw beads with one hand and played music with the other. The king or queen wore a paper crown and a bath towel cape. The royal scepter was a toy baton. If you were the crowd, you gathered up all the things thrown to you and they got redistributed to have another parade. And we spent the afternoon being our very own Mardi Gras krewe. When we got tired, we gathered for kool-aid on one kid's lawn. And when our moms called us in for supper, everyone took their beads and wagons and went home.

I don't remember making a regular game of this, but it sure made for a great afternoon. As many times as we played outside, not many of them stand out in my memories like this. But every year when Mardi Gras season rolls around, seeing the colorful decorations and floats takes me back to childhood. And when I remember those days playing outside, I always remember the "Krewe of Green Acres Court".