Mardi Gras in Rapides Parish — The Alexandria Krewes Parade

Alexandria's Mardi Gras didn't exist until 1994, when a handful of local business leaders, existing krewes, and the Alexandria-Pineville Convention and Visitors Bureau put together the first parade — four krewes, ten floats. Three decades later, the Alexandria Mardi Gras Association's Krewes Parade has grown to more than 20 member krewes and 20-plus floats, drawing an estimated 150,000 people to Texas Avenue, Masonic Drive, Memorial Drive, and North Boulevard. This is Carnival built from the ground up by a city 190 miles from New Orleans, not borrowed from it.