NEW ORLEANS– Tonight is the night that the very first ever “Floats in the Oaks” begins in New Orleans City Park.
City Park is ready to let the good times roll for the drive-thru “Floats in the Oaks.”
“We are facing the complete absence of Mardi Gras because of the global pandemic and Mardi Gras is certainly the fabric of who we are,” Rob DeViney, Chief Operating Officer of New Orleans City Park said.
City Park knew that Mardi Gras had to go on but in a safe way, so with the cancellation of parades the floats came to City Park for everyone to gaze at.
“City Park is the people’s park. This is the people’s parade,” DeViney said. There are about 40 floats from 28 different Carnival krewes. There are floats from the King of Carnival Rex, Zulu, Tucks, Muses, Bacchus, Endymion, and many more. These floats are delighting folks like Dolly Firkaly and Mary Jane Rapp who came early to check out the floats.
“I just think this is a wonderful and creative way to help the city experience Mardi Gras,” Firkaly said.
“There were people with tears in their eyes, and I was one of them because we thought we weren’t going to get to see it this year, this makes the pandemic more do-able” Rapp said.
Even though this drive-thru parade in the park isn’t moving, it sure is driving folks’ emotions making them realize that there’s one thing this pandemic can’t take away from New Orleans.
“The joy of life,” Rapp and Firkaly said.
“Floats in the Oaks” runs through February 14th.
For more information on “Floats in the Oaks,” click HERE.