What Isn’t Thrown From a Float
by
Several years ago, I had friends in for Mardi Gras. Though “foreigners,” they were no strangers to Mardi Gras. We went to the parades be-wigged, me in a blue wig loaned to me by Southern Mom, N in her purple wig, and K in her lime green one.
We went downtown and caught Mid-City awaiting Endymion. During Mid-City, I stayed in the back soaking in the scene, not fighting for catches. K, being that foreigner, jumped into the crowd scene in hopes of catching long beads.
To K’s delight, a float stopped in front of the crowd. The riders began to rain down on the crowd throws galore–beads, cups, doubloons. The crowd was frenzied.
Then one of the riders gave up on a tangled mass of beads and threw the lot to the crowd. It landed squarely on K’s head. Bodies dove, hands scampered. It was like feeding time in an aquarium.
When K came up for air, her wig was gone. On her head was the hair sock. Oh, I will never forgot that sight. Little tufts of blond hair sticking every which way from beneath that sock. K was not amused; N and I, watching from behind, were enthralled, laughing hysterically.
K then screamed authoritatively to the crowd, “WHO TOOK MY WIG? THEY’RE NOT THROWING THEM FROM THE FLOAT!!” I swear, there was silence. Then a thin black arm appeared from the masses, lime green wig in its hand. She thanked the child, returned the wig crookedly back to her head, took a sip from her daiquiri, and resumed enjoying herself.
What happened to her at Endymion, well, that’s another post entirely.
What about the great missing wig incident of Endymion 2007? If I remember correctly, many were scarred by it and remain so today.
I am crying over here!! All over my keyboard. I could just see it now…you set the scene so perfectly
} Thanks for the giggle Nola!
Oh how I needed that laugh!
Haha! The Fiance said to tell my physical therapists that I need to work on the looking up motion otherwise I’m going to get pelted in the face at Mardi Gras. My pt looked at me and said, “sorry honey, you’re screwed.” She also suggested a wide-brimmed hat for protection.
I think we’re going to be downtown this weekend for one of the walking parades on Saturday, I can’t believe it’s already that time of year!
That is hilarious! I love Mardi Gras!
i just snorted so loudly that my husband gave me a dirty look. you tell such vivid stories…i can totally picture a little hand with a green wig!!!
hilarious!
xoxo
That is a great story. At least she got the wig back! Last year during Tucks our old neighbors saw us in the crowd and they proceeded to rain down the goodies on us, much to the delight of the people in our area. My housemate ended up getting a black eye! Those toilet beads can get dangerous!
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Ahh.. daquiris & Mardi Gras. Like peanut butter & jelly!
[...] As I was saying, what happened to K at Endymion several years ago merits its own post. We finished watching Mid-City and continued to enjoy ourselves. N’s husband, J, even bought a wig, too–a huge afro. And at one point in the day, J was quietly working on a project out of the trunk of my car. He’d found a pen and was making a sign out of the inside of a case of beer. It looked like a homeless man’s “Will Eat For Food” sign, but read, “Throw to the ‘Fro.” The riders responded to that ‘fro, too! The beads at Endymion were flung to J at a ratio of 4:1 to us gals. We were no longer amused with his sign. [...]
I am just loving the new look! Oh, and that story was freaking hilarious!