LAKE CHARLES, La. (WGNO)— There’s nothing that describes Louisiana as much as the phrase “Mardi Gras”, Words that make up the sights and sounds of carnival.
“Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll. It’s all about Mardi gras here in southwest Louisiana at the Mardi gras exhibit at the Imperial Calcasieu Museum. It’s the central place where history, artifacts, and traditions are on display preserving the cultural heritage of the second largest Mardi gras celebration in Louisiana.”
“We have a very unique way of celebrating Mardi gras in Lake Charles. We invite the public to celebrate with us. A lot of the krewes in other areas, it’s private event. We try to open it up to the public as much as we can here in lake Charles.”
David faulk is the director of the Mardi gras museum… He says there are approximately 60 Mardi gras krewes just in the Lake Charles area.
“The costumes here in the museum reflect different aspects of Mardi gras and the different themes that they choose for Mardi gras. Each krewe gets to pick their own theme so the costumes reflect those themes.”
The original location of the Mardi gras museum is under construction from the effects of hurricanes Laura and delta in 2020.
Ballroom costumes are now on display at the Imperial Calcasieu Museum in Lake Charles.
“To be able to help out the Mardi gras museum of imperial Calcasieu and give the community a taste of what they offer our region is amazing. It’s especially because of the hardship that they’ve gone through. We are just now getting on our feet after being closed for about a year.”
“The museum actually owns approximately 450 to 500 costumes. The space that we occupy only allows us to display 350-400 at a time so we do rotate them, and we do get new ones every year that are donated to the museum.”
Ticket prices and additional information can be found at visitlakecharles.org.