The revelers demand it.  Mardi Gras is for the people; Covid be damn.  Joe Cain raised the spirts of the people of Mobile, Alabama around 1866 during Union occupation with some Mardi Gras celebration. In the same celebrative spirit, the people of Mobile and the founders of the Mobile Porch Parade wanted to bring happiness to our community during the pandemic.  This movement that the people started to celebrate Mardi Gras is continuing, just in a different manner this year.  We are the Mother of Mystics and America’s Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras began with us and certainly will not die here if the citizens of Mobile have anything to say about it.
For those who know nothing of Joe Cain, he was known for the rebirth of Mardi Gras in our dear city after the Civil War. Legend has it that he wanted to bring back Mardi Gras celebration in Mobile and cheer up the citizens of an occupied Mobile by Union soldiers. So, he and six men of the Tea Drinkers Society that he helped organized decided to introduce some Mardi Gras Mayhem.  They dressed up as Chickasaw warriors while wearing their confederate uniforms underneath their costumes. Joe Cain called himself Chief Slacabamarinico (We call him Ol’ Slac for short) and paraded through town on a decorated coal wagon while the men banged drums and played horns. It is said they dressed up as Chickasaw warriors because they were undefeated in battle against the Union and this was meant as an insult to the Army.  In honor of Joe Cain, we have the People’s Parade called the Joe Cain Procession the Sunday before Mardi Gras.
So now in 2021, we are under Covid occupation and the cancelation of our Mardi Gras balls and parades. I for one was a little sad because I love to photograph the colorful parades, and watch the people scramble for beads and moon pies from the flamboyant floats.  Each float is a work of art. I miss the camaraderie of crowd and listening to the bands on the streets. Where else can you do the YMCA with hundreds of your closet friends on Royal Street?   But here comes Joe Cain’s spirit through merrymakers of Mobile adorning their doors and yards in festive colors of purple and gold to observe the season. Some neighbors are even holding small parties in their front yard. The creators of the Mobile Porch Parade are also promoting their Yardi Gras movement for the revelers missing this carnival season. All they ask is for you to decorate your porch or yard in its Mardi Gras finest and register to be on the official parade map. Currently, there are over 400 registered homes in the city. Some of the participants have hired Mardi Gras artists to turn their yards into beautiful floats. We have some creative talent in our city and this event helps keep them employed in our tough economic times. I was amazed at the beautiful houses with their larger-than-life yard decorations and the joy and amusement it brought to faces of people, young and old, when they saw the carnival houses. People were out walking and giving directions to their favorite houses on the routes, cars were driving by and stopping for pictures, and homeowners welcomed me into their yards to take photographs. I could almost image the moon pies and beads being thrown into the crowds as the catchy rhythms of the marching bands pass by.
According to an article in the Mobile Press, The Mobile Porch Parade will be releasing their four locations where the community can exchange canned good for Mardi Gras throws. The canned goods will go to the Prodisee Pantry food bank. The MPP is community at its finest by helping its neighbors, local businesses and artists who depend on Mardi Gras for the bulk of their income. It also helps Mobilians and tourists alike by bringing happiest and raising spirits during this pandemic while keeping Mardi Gras alive. Mardi Gras is our Mobile family tradition, and it is in our blood. One of our oldest parades of Mardi Gras is the Order of Myths where the first float of the last parade highlights Folly chasing Death around a broken column and beating him over the head with golden inflated pig bladders. I hope when this pandemic of over, we find Folly beating the crap out of this Covid virus and showing it no mercy. Let the Good Times Roll!
Finally, this article would not be complete without contacting Mr. Mardi Gras himself, for a statement concerning this 2021 Mardi Gras Season. Steve Joynt, a.k.a. Mr. Mask, is the owner, editor, and publisher of the Mobile Mask. This is Mobile’s premier magazine on anything and everything about our Carnival Season. It is your information to a world of fun and merriment. I leave his words with you: “The efforts to celebrate Mardi Gras on our own, from house decorations to little neighborhood parades, have sprung up exactly the way they needed to: organically. Mardi Gras has always been a celebration of the people – not the church or the state – so this year called for the people to step up and say, “This is how we’re going to do it.”
For more information on Mobile Mask and the Mobile Porch Parade map , please click the links below.