Taking on New Adventures

Moving to New Orleans in 2013 got me closer to being in a Mardi Gras Krewe. As someone who fell in love with the city as a kid, it was always a dream to be in one. So in 2015, I joined a krewe to ride in a parade. But in 2016, Chuck and I joined the Krewe of Cork and now we march with our friends in the French Quarter the first Friday of the final two weekends of Mardi Gras.

Being in the krewe is a blast. We do lunches throughout the year and our smaller group spend countless hours on text messages and Zoom calls planning our wine-themed costumes. In case the title didn’t spell it out, the Krewe of Cork is a wine-themed parade. We have no floats. Just crazy, cool costumes from the 400+ members. Most people are part of smaller groups that do some type of crazy wine theme.

There are two “rules” to being in the krewe, outside of paying your dues. One is that you have to be in some type of costume. The other is to have fun! I’ve managed to do that the 4 years we’ve marched in the parade. The first year, we didn’t have a theme but the other 3 years Chuck and I have been a part of the krewe, we’ve had a group theme and been able to come up with some fun costumes.

For 2023, we started the planning in August of 2022. After a few Zoom meetings, we landed on a Grease theme. The Pink/Champagne Ladies and Thunderbirds (after the wine). I did a ton of research on jackets and appliques that fit the champagne theme and found some great options.

So got everyone to agree on the look, made a spreadsheet to track costs and started ordering. Once we got our appliques, I go them to the ladies and we put together our own jackets. The final look was great and while we got to pick the jackets that fit us best, which meant some different styles for each lady, we all looked uniform and loved our look!

Parade day for Cork goes something like this: Pre-parade breakfast for some, Bloody Mary Happy Hour at 11am and check in, Lunch at Court of Two Sisters at 1230pm, Parade line up at 3pm and start rolling through the Quarter at 330pm, after party at 530pm. This year, Chuck and I made it home by 930pm, after a quick stop for more wine on our way home!

It’s a fun day with tons of steps, tons of wine and finished off by tons of dancing. We throw some beads, hand out stickers I make with our theme on it, and have lots of laughs along the 2-mile or so route. Even though we had a little rain this year, it was still a blast and the crowds were great!

Overall, they aren’t as aggressive since we have no floats and the idea is to have fun more than throwing things. Most are there to enjoy the views of our costumes and take photos. We end with our party that has some great food and a band that plays everything danceable. It’s a long day that is filled with fun!