By Madalyn Eagles
It’s Mardi Gras season, and Louisiana Tech students were ready to grab some fun attire, practice catching because beads and find the baby in king cakes.
Tech’s Union Board hosted its third annual Mardi Gras Mambo Tuesday for students and the community at the Aspire Plaza on campus. Mardi Gras Mambo gave students a taste of Mardi Gras celebrations before the students leave for Mardi Gras break next Monday through Wednesday.
“We know that a lot of students don’t get to experience Mardi Gras,” said Catherine Bain, co-committee head for Mardi Gras Mambo. “They can’t travel, they don’t have anywhere to stay or they’re just not from New Orleans. Our main goal is to just make it feel as authentic as possible.”
To bring New Orleans Mardi Gras to Ruston, Union Board members set up a photobooth, caricatures for people to get their portraits done, a king cake walk for a chance to win one, a table to decorate masks and meat pies to snack on.
“Mardi Gras is just this super fun event that Louisiana natives are known for,” said Maddie Smith, co-committee head for Mardi Gras Mambo. “I hope this is a chance for people who are from Louisiana and people who aren’t to experience it and if they don’t get the real thing, that it’s kind of a little snip of what it might be for others.”
The Union Board started the preparations for Mardi Gras Mambo in November. Getting ideas, designing the T-shirts and brainstorming the location was the first part. Then after Christmas break, organizations began signing up. The final touches were building the floats and ordering the food and throws.
The event may have only been for three hours, but for Union Board members, it was an all day event for them.
“We’ve been out here since 8 a.m., getting everything ready,” said Bain.
Being the third year to have a Mardi Gras Mambo, the event has evolved from just being on campus the first year, to having a parade around the TAC, to now having the parade stroll onto campus with 30 organizations in attendance.
The main event of the night was the parade.
“It has been amazing seeing the people who signed up to be a part of our parade,” Smith said. “We wanted to have it as big as possible to replicate a real parade and all of the organizations have been super nice and just helpful working with us. I’m just super happy about the way it turned out.”
Not only were Tech organizations involved, but the Ruston community also had a few spots in the parade. Union Board worked with the Ruston Police Department for the parade route and to lead the parade and also worked with the Ruston Fire Department to have a firetruck in the parade. Ruston’s own Lilburn’s Boutique also was part of the event.
No Mardi Gras parade is complete without a king, queen and court. Twelve students nominated by various organizations at Tech got to ride their designated float in the parade and represent different parts of life on campus. At the end of the parade, two members of the court were crowned king and queen.
This year’s Mardi Gras Mambo king and queen were Walker Pearson and Grace Harrington. They were crowned right in front of the Aspire Plaza after the parade.
“I’m really kind of in a shock,” said Harrington. “I was so honored to be nominated by Sigma Kappa and it meant a lot that they saw me as a leader and wanted to nominate me for this.”
Mardi Gras Mambo continues to be a favorite amongst students and the community.
“I think there’s been so many ideas thrown around the past three years that they’re going to have bigger ideas and more ambitions for the next years,” said Bain.
Tech may bleed red and blue, but just for this event Tech bleeds green, purple and gold. Laissez les bons temps rouler.
