Harlan Kirgan
Given a weather forecast for 80% chance of rain on Monday, it looks like this year will be another wet Mardi Gras.
Pat Frey, Le Vieux Mardi Gras de Cajun capitaine, said, “We think it is always wet for Mardi Gras.”
Frey spoke Thursday to the Eunice Kiwanis Club about the upcoming 124th Eunice Mardi Gras Run.
Explaining the need for traditional costumes and masks, Frey said, “You are supposed to go out and do different things and play havoc in the community and they don’t need to know who you are.
“It is about the only time they can get away with taking stuff and getting away with it.”
After the run on Tuesday, Frey said the Mardi Gras organization tries to go back and restore order and cleanup the trail.
One year the Mardi Gras runners stole chicken signs from yards, he said.
“We knew who it was after we got the phone calls,” he said. The signs were returned, he said.
“That’s what the Mardi Gras is about.”
The 14-mile run starts at the Northwest Community Center in Eunice with registration at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
About 900 people are expected to participate in the run that follows Soileau Road to La. 29 and back to Eunice to enter downtown about 3 p.m.
About 125 people will be on horses and 35 trailers have been registered, he said.
There is room on the run for trailers and they can be registered Tuesday morning, he said.
Frey is asking horse riders to keep the trailers on high ground due to the wet conditions.
The Mardi Gras association is working with the city to improve parking around the Northwest center, but it will be wet again this year, he said.
The Mardi Gras Run is a good thing for Eunice, he said. “It brings in a lot of tax dollars to the city.”
The Mardi Gras Run in recent years has settled to the 800 to 900 participants.
At one time there were 1,600 to 1,700 participants, he said. Other runs have taken the pressure off the Eunice event, he said.
And, he remembers one Mardi Gras Run where it was so cold “it was the loneliest 14 miles ever.”
For the Mardi Gras Run participants there is a gumbo from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Northwest Center to possibly chase the chill away.
The gumbo does not include the chickens caught during the day, he said.
Those chickens are set free, he added.
“There is no way we are going to catch enough chickens on the run for 400 to 500 Mardi Gras to cook a gumbo. That would be kind of hard to do,” he said.
The Eunice Mardi schedule includes the following.
The Old Time Boucherie is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at South 2nd and Walnut streets.
Also on Sunday, the Eunice Children’s Lil’ Mardi Gras Run Parade is scheduled.
On Feb. 24, Dr. Barry Ancelet will present a session on the Rural Mardi Gras at the Liberty Theater.
On Tuesday, registration begins at 6 a.m. at the Northwest Community Center for the Courir de Mardi Gras.
The Courir de Mardi Gras is scheduled to return to Eunice at 3 p.m.
Throughout the Mardi Gras celebration downtown there will be food and drinks available. Partygoers are asked not to bring ice chests downtown.
The music stage for all performances will be located on South 2nd and Walnut.
Noon – Open jam sessions.
4 p.m. – Fred Charlie & Acadiana Cajuns.
6 p.m. – Jambalaya and Basile Mardi Gras Association at Liberty Theater.
7:30 p.m. – Kevin Naquin & the Ossun Playboys.
10 p.m. – Jamie Bergeron & The Kickin’ Cajuns.
Sunday
10 a.m. – Ryan Simon & Acadien.
12:30 p.m. – Kegan Navarre & Louisiana Traditions.
5 p.m. – Richard LeBouef & Two Step.
Monday
7 p.m. – Bubba Hebert & The New Morse Playboys.
9 p.m. – Travis Matte & the Kingpins.
Mardi Gras
9:30 a.m. – Wallace Trahan & Rice & Gravy.
11 a.m. – Ronnie Matthews & Throwdown.
1:30 p.m. – Paul Daigle & Cajun Gold.
4 p.m. – Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys.
6 p.m. – Geno Delafose & The French Rockin’s Boogie.
For more information, call the Eunice Mayor’s Office at 337-457-7389.