Soulard Mardi Gras is like St. Louis-style pizza.
Outsiders coming here expecting a New York slice or a New Orleans parade are likely to feel confused or disappointed. The key is to ditch the comparisons and embrace our beloved bastardizations as categories entirely of their own.
Longtime St. Louisans will proudly tell you Soulard Mardi Gras is the second-largest one out there (we fact-check this below), and Soulard residents are quick describe how drunken partygoers attend to their business on the neighborhood’s front lawns during the festivities. But the St. Louis celebration is more than all that.
To learn more, St. Louis Public Radio spoke with Levi Cullifer, a digitization and cataloging specialist at the Missouri Historical Society. Cullifer is working on a banner exhibit about Soulard Mardi for its 50th anniversary in 2030.
Here’s what we found out.
1. Soulard Mardi Gras began as a party 'to chase away the winter blues.'
It was February 1980, and there was nothing to do. So, Hillary Clements and a few friends decided to throw a party at 1017 Russell Blvd., which is now the Hi-Hat, a restaurant and music venue. What was supposed to be a small party turned into a big one — and then the group decided to go to a bar.
“These individuals decided to, in winter, walk up Russell, which is an uphill slope, towards McGurks,” Cullifer said. “Funny enough, they were turned away because they were drunk, and they marched right back to the party. And so that was kind of the story.”
The party kept going, growing every year until it became the celebration we recognize now.
2. A riot was critical in making Soulard Mardi Gras what it is today.
Soulard Mardi Gras used to have two parades — the Grand Parade on Saturday and one on Fat Tuesday. In 1999, the Fat Tuesday parade devolved into a riot.
“Fights broke out between police and bystanders, to the point where police were just pushing people out of Soulard,” Cullifer said, adding that about 50 people had to show up to court afterward. “Police in riot gear were showing up — smashed cars, smashed windows. Over 100 people underage were caught drinking, turned over porta potties.”
The incident was so infamous it generated T-shirts saying things like, “I went to the ’99 Mardi Gras and survived” or “I went to the ’99 Mardi Gras and was maced by the police,” he said.
Community groups met for a whole year after that to talk about how to make Mardi Gras safer. Those changes included doing away with the Tuesday parade.
3. No, St. Louis doesn’t actually have the second-largest Mardi Gras celebration.
St. Louisans claim that theirs is the No. 2 celebration, after New Orleans. That’s not true, Cullifer said.
“We are probably top five in the nation,” he said. “New Orleans is definitely the largest, then Mobile, Pensacola, and then we're around the same as Galveston.”
St. Louis’ Mardi Gras attendance peaked around 500,000 people in 1999, he said, and that was across all of the Mardi Gras events, which start with 12th Night on Jan. 6 and end on Fat Tuesday.
4. You shouldn’t pick up beads off the ground and wear them.
Once beads “hit the ground, they're considered dead and bad luck,” Cullifer said.
He explained there are several categories of beads. They include throw beads, those ubiquitous plastic Mardi Gras offerings. Then there are specialty beads, the pearl-strand or large-ornament beads that you don’t throw but instead hand to people.
“It’s a little bit more intimate,” he said. “That’s a step up, that kind of makes you a real goer for Mardi Gras.”
Finally, in Soulard the top-tier beads are the signature beads, or krewe beads, which are created by krewes or local organizations for Mardi Gras. Sometimes they are ceramic and a lot of times are handmade. These are handed out sparingly.
In New Orleans, some krewes also throw out objects such as painted coconuts or shoes. But in Soulard, that’s banned for safety reasons.
5. Being on a float can change your perspective.
Mardi Gras krewes are social groups with common interests that create and participate in Mardi Gras events like the parade, balls and more. Cullifer is part of the Krewe of Vices & Virtues.
“They are kind of like a second family to me at this point,” he said. “Hanging out with these people and experiencing the joys of Mardi Gras is kind of an experience. … If you can ever be on a float or walk in the parade, it truly is an experience that you will cherish.”
On the float, Cullifer sees all the different people who come to the parade and can appreciate how the neighborhood comes together and celebrates its French roots.
This weekend's Soulard Mardi Gras events
Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball
7 p.m. to midnight Feb. 28
Anheuser-Busch Biergarten
Details and tickets
Grand Parade
11 a.m. March 1
Soulard
Details
