Mardi Gras in New Orleans is definitely different this year. With the city discouraging large crowds and stopping parades as we know them, with their fun, funny, beautiful floats, it’s a real change of pace. However, that hasn’t stopped the citizens of New Orleans from getting in the Mardi Gras spirit.
One of the things New Orleans citizens have done is since they can’t decorate floats, they’ve started turning their homes into floats. This has been an effort by both professional float makers, and individual New Orleanians. Below are some pictures of some of the “House Floats” you can see, and a little bit about the people who made them possible.
This article will be updated as more float pictures become available.
Angee Estevez, owner of the store Miette, a gallery and gift shop on Magazine Street, explains how things got started. “Krewe of House Floats started the idea of decorating our houses as floats. I have been representing Carnival artists at Miette for more than 5 years now so upon seeing this I called Caroline Thomas and she also realized what an opportunity there was for this to explode and that there was an additional opportunity for the actual Carnival artists to get involved and create House Floats as well.”
She took some pictures of hers, The Night Tripper House Float, and yes, it is very trippy indeed.
She adds, “I offered my house up to be the sacrificial lamb. I let her know that if anything went wrong that I wouldn’t be upset because this was just too amazing of a thing to be a part of. Caroline reached out to Devin De Wulf with Red Beans and the rest is still currently making history.”
About the house float, she says, “I am in LOVE with the results of my house and the work the artists all contributed. I have a Caroline Thomas original house float! How wild is this? I am friends with a lot of the artists that got hired to work on my house so for me it was a bit more personal than it might be for others. We weren’t even sure how this would take publicly but to see my friends having all of this sudden work in such despairing times has been the most uplifting thing. To see the city coming together and lifting the Carnival artists up like this is just a dream come true.”
At night it’s especially a sight to behold.
Meghan Davis has her own house float. Its theme is Queen of Hearts. She says, “I’m an artist, and typically during this time of year I’d be getting ready and making my throws for Chewbacchus. I’m also a world-ranked face and body painter, so I’d also be super busy with gigs for painting clients. Because of COVID, that’s all canceled, and I just bought my first home about two months ago, so I decided to channel my creative energy into decorating my home instead.”
Unlike Estevez, Davis hasn’t involved as many people, “I have recruited my husband and a friend or two to hold things while I hang stuff up or glue something, but I am making all of my decorations from scratch. All hand-painted.”
The last person Big Easy Magazine spoke to was Dawn Carl, a professional photographer, as well as a professional genealogist and researcher, who says of her own float, which has the theme of, “Jazzin’ in New Orleans,” “Most of what is created is things I already had on hand, and things from past Mardi Gras decorating. My house float was created by me and two amazing friends of mine, that have gone above and beyond in helping me, Paula Magnum and Ben Huber.”
She says of her float, “Every time I add another final element, the excitement rises and I can’t wait to see what others think.”
Big Easy Magazine’s very own photographer and writer, Jenn Bentley, took some photos of another house float, “It’s one thing After Another,” by Jim Malloy of 65Bold Designs.
If you would like your own very own house float, there are some delightful people who would love to help you. Please check out Hire a Mardi Gras Artist.
If you would like to take some pictures of your own house float and put them in Big Easy Magazine, please contact Michael David Raso.
