With my father feeling a little more lively, we went with a friend to the all women’s parade called the Polka Dots Parade in Mobile, Alabama.
Once again, I went into the Civic Center early to photograph the preparations for the Polka Dots Parade. The women were mostly in the ballroom having group photographs taken and making final adjustments to their costumes, visiting friends, drinking, and just having too much fun. The noise level was definitely higher than from my experience with the Conde Cavaliers.
The women were dressed up in a wide range of what I’d call “stereotypical women’s roles”. There were nurses in white laced with red sequins (and inappropriate mini-skirts – wow!), waitresses, Krispy Kreme ladies, cats, harem girls, and other daring, racy, and quite exciting outfits. Glitter, sequins, and outrageous glitz was everywhere, including some glittering stick-on tattoos on various exposed body parts.
The masks covered a wide spectrum from traditional styles to masks with fabric or lace attached to the mask below the eyes that draped over the lower face.
The women had arranged for a local high school band and drill/dance team to come cheer them on and march in the parade leading the floats. The all-black school group came out and banged on the drums, tooted the horns, and danced around, and many of the ladies got right into the spirit of things, dancing around the young kids. By the time came for the parade, energy levels were high, laughter rang out everywhere, and cheering could be heard for miles.
The floats matched the women’s outfits, with Arab harems, hat shoppes, coffee houses, and even a Krispy Kreme on wheels. There was a much larger crowd out for this parade than the one last week, and they were cheering and begging for beads and trinkets to be tossed out. The band played loudly, marching in front of the parade.
It was great fun and looked like it was going to be a magical evening with the parade and the ball afterwards. And the ladies were all excited and feeling wild and crazy with the fun of it.
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[…] Wow! My dad really got into the Mardi Gras festivities here in Mobile, Alabama. We’ve done three parades now, the Conde Cavaliers, Polka Dots, and now the Mystic Strippers. He sorts through his beads, stuffed animals, and moon pie collection, eats all the moon pies and then whines that he’s got to go back to get more. So we head back out into the evening for more Mardi Gras fun. […]