My first Mardi Gras Parade 2011

I lived on the Gulf Coast for over ten years before I participated in my first Mardi Gras parade. Although celebrating " carnival" for { at lest} six weeks prior to the start of Lent is part of the culture here, were I come from this practice is as foreign as fried pig ears.

I do NOT like crowded events, so I'd avoided participating in the { mostly family-friendly} Mardi Gras parade until I served on the steering committee for the local American Cancer Society Relay For Life effort.

Here is one of the many floats that walked in the 2011 Navarre Beach Mardi Gras Parade.

  Our float was , of course PURPLE!  My favorite color also happens to be one of the three colors of the Mardi Gras season.{ The other two are green and yellow}

The High School JrROTC marched in the parade, as they do every year.

  Here is another float preparing for the parade. We were there literally ALL DAY and , being February on the Gulf Coast beaches,  in COLD and WINDY weather.

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