Thousands of people gather each winter for music, food, parades and the opportunity to collect famous beads during the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.
Today, students hoping to partake in the festivities need look no further than Union Street.
The Carnival season, which began Jan. 6, is filled with parades and celebrations that all lead up to the culminating event of Mardi Gras, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
Will Drury, a New Orleans native and director of Boogie on the Bricks, Athens Jazz Fest and Groove Street Fest, decided to bring the New Orleans experience with him after moving to Athens in May 2010.
“I’m 38, and last year was the first time since I was 3 that I haven’t attended Mardi Gras,” Drury said. “I stood on the same corner of St. Charles and Napoleon, one of the most famous corners in New Orleans, at a bar that I’d worked at for 18 years, and I missed that experience.”
Drury hosted a small Mardi Gras party at The Union last year and wanted to throw a bigger party this year.
“I had been working with Art on a few other events,” Drury said. “The topic of Mardi Gras came up, and we established the idea to have the party at Jackie O’s.”
Art Oestrike, owner of Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, said he thinks it’s important to celebrate different holidays throughout the year.
“If you have someone who wants to lead such an initiative to throw a party, I would like nothing more than to support such folks,” Oestrike said.
Drury is paying about $1,000 out of his own pocket to put together this Mardi Gras experience.
“I have enough stuff, such as hats, beads, feather boas and stuffed animals, to throw to the audience as if they were at one of the Mardi Gras parade routes,” he said. “I’ll also be playing all the music popular in New Orleans from 8 p.m. until close.”
Jackie O’s will also be serving two authentic Louisiana dishes: gumbo and red beans and rice.
Drury also had some world famous Pat O’Brien Hurricane drink mix shipped directly from the French Quarter.
“Anyone from New Orleans knows how hard it is to recreate the Mardi Gras experience, and I wanted to do it as best as I could,” he said. “… It’s going to be an authentic Mardi Gras experience.”.
ao007510@ohiou.edu
