Billed as a kickoff party to Terrebonne s Mardi Gras season, Twelfth Night with a Twist starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Barry Bonvillain Civic Center.
The chances of seeing Mardi Gras-style parades in Terrebonne and Lafourche in 2021 are currently somewhere between slim and none, but a few local folks are hoping to bring some of the color and pageantry of Carnival floats to their neighborhoods.
Nicole Marie, owner and operator of Facebook group Da Buzz, is holding a yard decorating competition called “Yardi Gras,” after seeing similar competitions being held in New Orleans on social media.
Mardi Gras krewes there have taken to decorating their houses to resemble parade floats, something Marie wants to see here. It’d be a great idea to develop something on Da Buzz and call it Yardi Gras,” Marie said. “I started having businesses call me and message me wanting to donate for first place and second and third prizes, and it just took off from there.”
Mark Pitre, president of the Krewe of Hercules, said the tentative date for his krewe s parade is April 9. The other parades would roll during one of the next three weekends, roughly in the same order they normally do.
Hercules, the largest local krewe, would still be the first parade to roll in Terrebonne as in a normal Mardi Gras season, but it will not happen if the pandemic still rages. The safety of our members and the people come first, Pitre said. The sheriff was very positive. He wants us to ride, but he wants to make sure that the numbers are there for us to do this. We want to ride in April but only if it s safe for the public and our members.
This is a tough year for high school marching bands.
Two of their highest-profile activities, marching at halftime of football games and marching in Mardi Gras parades, have been denied them as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The band was only able to play at three football games instead of the usual 10 this season. Students said that they had to fight to be included and be able to perform at the first playoff game that the Ellender Memorial High School football team had played in years.
Navigating things like the school closures and modified practices, Ellender Band Director Anthony Joseph and his students have endured a very different season.
There may be a Mardi Gras of sorts in 2021 after all.
Some of the krewes, as well as Terrebonne Parish President Gordy Dove, say they re hoping the vaccines now being rolled out for COVID-19 will reduce the number of people affected by the coronavirus to be able to stage the large events in the late spring or early summer.
In a letter to Terrebonne s carnival krewes dated Dec. 16, Dove announced that the parades in Terrebonne would be postponed.
Mike LaRussa, captain of the 750-member Krewe of Hercules in Houma, said that his krewe, the largest in Terrebonne, is hoping to stage its parade later in the spring if at all possible.