Mardi Gras, Neighborhood Style

The Driftwood neighborhood parade rolled today. It’s always one of my favorite parades. The floats are simple affairs, mostly slapped together (amid much beer drinking) the night before. The riders are all kids. The marching groups are all local kids (that's a Marching Club, pictured left, which is different from a marching group). Most of the people standing on the curb are local. Did I mention I live in Driftwood?

Against all odds, the Krewe of Driftwood rolled last year, just six months after the storm. They rolled through streets lined with FEMA trailers and PODS and piles of debris. The floats were few in number, the marching groups scraggly, but they rolled, and we all lined up along the streets, many of us in work clothes splattered with paint and drywall compound, and cheered our hearts out.

This year, the FEMA trailers are still there, although much reduced in number. The piles of debris are gone. The gardens are coming back. More than three quarters of the houses are now occupied (if not quite finished). There were more floats, more groups. It still wasn’t back up to what it was pre-K, but we had a great time!