This year was my last Mardi Gras as a New Orleans resident and because of that I have approached this Mardi Gras from a new perspective. So while I have noticed and gained a new appreciation for the beauty of the floats, the families and friends playing in the street before parades, the absolute magical feeling when the marching bands play and everyone cheers on, and the joy in peoples’ eyes and the enthralled look of the children gazing upon the floats. I’ve also noticed the grand obsession with Elvis this year. 

Elvis, the king of rock and roll, is an icon all readers should be aware of, and if not then you have been living under a rock for the past sixty years. Elvis has shaped generations so it’s no surprise that he is brought up in modern media and parades; however, these past two weeks there’s been an irregular amount of Elvis. This Mardi Gras season I’ve seen four floats themed around Elvis, two of which had giant representations of him at the helm of their floats. Another presence of Elvis are the rolling Elvi, which are a rolling Krewe of men dressed up as Elvis rolling down St. Charles Avenue in full Elvis getups on a scooter. The final Elvis moment of this delightful time of year was the reveal of an Elvis movie starring Austin Butler and the release of its trailer in the middle of the season.

Elvis, while being unavoidable this Mardi Gras season, has rightful reason to be so. The large amount of Elvis themed floats may have to do with the puns many parades like to do. Since this year was the first year back to Mardi Gras, many Krewes had themes based with the word “roll” or the phrase “rolls again,” so logically there were many puns of rock and roll. These puns led to the Elvis floats. For the rolling Elvi, there’s the power of New Orleans citizens ability to form marching/dancing/rolling Krewes out of any idea from the famous 610 stompers to cherry bombs. Finally after the success of the movies like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, it’s no surprise that a major movie studio plans to release a film on another famed musician. Elvis is one of the many things I’ll remember forever from my last Mardi Gras, but more importantly, I’ll remember seeing the joy in peoples’ eyes for Mardi Gras return, and I hope everyone had a delightful Mardi Gras season.