Growing up in South Louisiana, I’ve been to countless Mardi Gras parades across the state. I’ve been to Rio for Carnival and started going to Galveston’s Mardi Gras in the 90s. There is something special about watching a marching band dance their way along the seawall with the beach at your back or catching beads tossed from a float rolling through the Historic Strand District.
Here are the parades that I think make Galveston’s Mardi Gras special. I’ve organized them by day, because most locals refer to them as “the first Saturday day parades” or “the second Sunday parades”. Mardi Gras! Galveston happens over two weekends and continues on Fat Tuesday. This year, February 18 thru March 1.
A Brief History
To understand the start of the first Friday, you have to understand how it all started.
Galveston’s first recorded Mardi Gras celebration was in 1867 and included a masked ball and theatrical performance from Shakespeare’s “King Henry IV”. By 1873, visitors from around the state were attending the festivities. Among them were Governor E.J. Davis and a party of state officials and legislators who rode in the Mardi Gras parade that year. Dubbed “The Eras of Chivalry,” the parade boasted brilliantly decorated floats fashioned after campaigns and characters from the 6th through the 15th centuries. Brilliant and lavish carnivals were celebrated through February 1941, when the country turned to defeating the Axis powers. For the next 40 years, Mardi Gras celebrations were primarily private events.
In 1985, native Galvestonian George P. Mitchell and his wife, Cynthia, launched the revival of a citywide Mardi Gras celebration. The Mitchells had long dreamed of restoring the Island’s splendid tradition, and the grand opening of their elegant Tremont House hotel in the historic Strand District provided the spark to do so.
First Friday (February 18, 2022)
Today, Mardi Gras! Galveston begins with the George P. Mitchell Mardi Gras Award Presentation and Honoree Parade. This award was established to honor Mitchell and other individuals, corporations, foundations and groups vital to Mardi Gras’ rebirth and preservation. After the awards ceremony, the parade kicks off the party.
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