Where to Spend Fat Tuesday & Mardi Gras Parties

When I was in high school, our band director (yes, I was in the band; alto saxaphone if you must know) told us to get out and hustle to sell a lot of some type of product to the community because we were raising money to go on a trip.

At first, we yawned, thinking it was another band camp. But then he said we were going to New Orleans and marching in Mardi Gras parades! Well we could not get our hands on whatever it is we were selling fast enough. I think it was plastic polar bears that you put baking soda in to remove refrigerator orders; my mom was the only person who could move them and she alone practically sent the entire band to New Orleans.

But go to New Orleans we did, and as a wide-eyed 15-year-old it was an eye-opening experience. About the the first thing we did was walk down Bourbon Street. A couple of us suddenly found garters at our feet; they were flung by prostitutes hanging out on the balconies. Nothing we had ever seen in Knoxville, TN, prepared us for that, I can tell you!

The parades themselves are pretty much a blur – we marched, and marched and marched. It seems as if they would never end. I was fortunate enough to be on the outside of a row and I had dozens of drunk girls coming up planting huge kisses on me and putting beads around my neck. I'm not sure I've ever had a better Mardi Gras!

Needless to say, Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday have always held a special place in my heart. And so it was with much pleasure that I began to discover celebrations outside of not just New Orleans, but Rio, as well. For example, there are HUGE, million-person Carnival parties in Cologne and Dusseldorf, Germany. And a slightly smaller one the Swiss capitol of Bern. Check out this list of Top Carnival Party Places for PubClub.com

So where will I be this Fat Tuesday? Going to San Diego, where they block off the Gaslamp Quarter with bands and a parade. I've been before and it's a blast.

But hey, if you want to go to New Orleans, here's what it's like, complete with a parade schedule for 2011.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!


This blog was written by Kevin Wilkerson, publisher of PubClub.com.