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St. Louis Mardi Gras History
Manage episode 293076884 series 2653312
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You don’t have to head over to the Mississippi River to New Orleans when one of the biggest Mardi Gras parties in the country takes place right here in the Show-Me State. St. Louis Mardi Gras has its own rich tradition with the annual Soulard Mardi Gras, which celebrates almost four decades of letting loose in south St. Louis’ iconic Soulard community.
How did St. Louis' Mardi Gras become the colossal event that it is today? Let us begin by addressing a common question:
What is Mardi Gras?
Mardi Gras, which translates as “Fat Tuesday” in French, is inextricably linked to the Roman Catholic Church’s Lenten season rituals and the cities of New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro. Carnival is the name given to this event in Rio de Janeiro. In the United States, the Mardi Gras festival originated in 1703 with a party of French immigrants in Mobile, colonial French Louisiana’s first capital. Since Louisiana’s territorial capital was relocated to New Orleans in 1723, the Mardi Gras festival traveled with it and has since been associated with the city’s name.
St. Louis, like New Orleans, has a deeply French tradition. In 1763, Pierre Laclède established the community. Soulard started as part of Antoine and Julia Soulard’s farm. Antoine, a staunch supporter of King Louis XVI, fled France to save his head and ended up in St. Louis through New Orleans, marrying into the powerful Cerre dynasty. Surprisingly, these French origins had nothing to do with Soulard’s Mardi Gras background.
Antoine Soulard Mardi Gras started in December 1979 as a bit of a lark by five lonely guys searching for a way to light up the freezing winter in St. Louis. Hilary Clements, Bob Brinkmann, James Rabbitt, Bill Stubbs, and Bill Coleman met in a downtown bar to organize a large group to ward off the winter blues. With Fat Tuesday approaching, Hilary proposed that Mardi Gras will be an excellent theme for their group. He’d recently bought a three-story house in Soulard, which eventually became known as Johnny’s Restaurant & Bar.
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