Mardi Gras - New Bern Style
Mardi Gras came to New Bern on March 5 this year. Spencer Street became Bourbon Street and the sidewalks flow with revelers in masks and loud clothing while brass bands and even a Chinese dragon take to the streets for a loud and happy parade.
You might call it the second-and-a-half annual Mardi Gras Parade. “It’s the second with an actual parade permit,” organizer Pam Sewell said. “The year before that we had a sort of sidewalk parade.”
It’s also the biggest. Pam Sewell, parade chair, noted at least 14 units and around 140 people taking part, including the Tryon Palace Jonkonnu team and the Second Air Wing Marine Corps Band that, she said, came to Ghent fresh from a trip to a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.
Other particpiants included the New Bern trolley, complete with bedecked ladies blowing bubbles out the back, Dilber the Dragon, the Craven Brass Quintet, Dog’s Dream, the River Rats (boating club, not the ball team), and the Pirates of the Neuse, whom Sewell described as a kind of Jimmy Buffet fan club.
A few houses were dressed up for the parade that went down Spencer Street from Second to Seventh, then turned around and came back down again, and after the parade there were venders from a food truck to clothing to yard sales and a table selling beans and rice.
The Jonkonnu band sat at the steps of 1618 Spencer and played their collection of drums while participants set up a table to help neighborhood children make their own Mardi Gras masks.
And down the street, the Craven Brass Quintet sat on a trailer and played.
The historic community’s street party ran from 2 until 5 p.m.
Contact Bill Hand at bill.hand@newbernsj.com, 252-635-5677, and follow him @BillHandNBSJ.
