New Orleans has beefed up security for Mardi Gras. For smaller parading krewes, it's costly

The City of New Orleans is requiring parades to hire more police officers to provide extra security at all Carnival season parades. Typically, the city covers security, sanitation, and other costs for parades rolling in the two-week period leading up to Fat Tuesday known as “legislative” or “municipal” Mardi Gras. These large, traditional krewes, such as Rex and Zulu, bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors and generate significant economic impact.

But independent walking krewes like Chewbacchaus, who start rolling after Jan. 6 when Carnival officially starts, receive no funding from the city. They pay for the services themselves through membership dues and can cost thousands of dollars in a normal year — depending on the size of the krewe.

Berry knew that more cops means more costs. Still, it was a shock when the invoice came in.

$45,000 — more than twice what the krewe usually pays.

“I knew this year would be different,” she said. “But that final number still had me saying, ‘Oof.’”

Berry worried about having to potentially raise the price of membership for the DIY, independent walking parade. Chewbacchus accepts members all the way up until the moment they start rolling, but early-bird dues have always been a flat $42, a nod to the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. 

The price is more than just an homage to a sci-fi classic. Berry said it also allows more people to participate in the largely-local parade. Anyone can join Chewbacchus, unlike exclusive krewes like The Rex Organization, commonly referred to as Rex, where no one knows how to join — or how much it costs to ride in the parade.

“Our dues are a really low barrier,” Berry said. “Everybody should be able to be a part of Carnival if they want to be.”

After Berry got the security bill for Chewbacchus, she contacted New Orleans City Council President JP Morrell’s office. Chewbacchus and other walking parades, like Krewe du Vieux, had already been working with Morrell’s office to try and figure out a way for the city to help with the extra security fees.

“The city really has a responsibility that if those costs are going to go up at this short of a notice, we have to provide some relief,” Morrell said.

Fortunately, just a day after Chewbacchus received the bill, Morrell spoke to NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick and figured out a temporary solution for this year: the city would cover the difference between what the walking krewes usually pay and this year’s costs.

Chewbacchus was able to roll as planned, but a long-term solution is still needed to keep the krewes from having to make tough decisions — like shortening parade routes or increasing membership dues..

And though they’re not covered under “municipal Mardi Gras,” the krewes say they also make a ton of money for the city, and provide more opportunities for people who actually live in New Orleans to participate in the Mardi Gras celebrations.

They say the city should support them in this regard, too.

“Colloquially, we know that for businesses on our route, this is their best night of the year,” said Chewbacchus captain Aryanna Gamble — aka Overlord, Space Goddess Snackagawea, First of Her Name, Baker of Grains, Mother of Scruffy Nerfherders, her formal titles. “A good parade night can make or break their entire year's budget. And we roll in a neighborhood that no other parade is rolling on at the scale that we're rolling on.”

There’s also the human connection that forms within these krewes. For many members, that’s why they joined and what they look forward to every year.

The weekend before their parade, Chewbacchus held its annual “throw swap” at Urban South, a local brewery in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District neighborhood. Krewe members got together to hang out and exchange the handmade items unique to each sub-krewe.

Some of the throws are obvious, like painted wands for “Mischief Managed,” a Harry Potter sub-krewe. Others are creative stretches, such as decorated forks for the Twilight-themed “Krewe of Twihards,” which sub-krewe-member Cayla Mendow explains as an homage to the city of Forks, Washington, where the vampire-romance series is set.

Speaking of vampires, with the Super Bowl being held in New Orleans during the Carnival season, Chewbacchus chose “Rise of the Superb Owl,” as its theme — a reference to the vampire-comedy series “What We Do in the Shadows,” wherein the vampire characters, unfamiliar with human culture, misinterpret the name of the big game and are disappointed to learn it's a football game, not a magnificent, mythical creature. It’s very much in line with Chewbacchus’ claims of being a parade for “super nerds.”

If you ask any of the sub-krewes at the throw swap, they’d tell you they’ve been preparing for this year’s parade since last year’s ended. Standing next to a table of throws of communicators and “Tribbles” from the Star Trek TV series, Deanna Larmeu, founder of the Starfleet Steppers dance troupe, said they’ve been getting together throughout the year to craft throws and practice their dance moves.

“I’m an art teacher, so I know how to make a lot of stuff,” Larmeu said. “When we’d gather, we’d say we’re going to make communicators in October, we’re going to make Tribbles in November. And of course, we dance. If you don’t make space today, you don’t get to dance anymore.”

For krewe members, it’s more than just preparing for the party that is parade night. It’s community. And Berry said that’s more important now than ever.

“We can't let things like the Bourbon Street attack stop the joy that we find in each other and in culture in parading and celebration,” she said.

Yvonne Garrett is captain of Krewe du Vieux, a satirical, adult-themed walking parade. Attendees can expect to see raunchy sub-krewes taking shots at political figures or policies, along with hand-made floats that can include papier maché genitalia rolling down Royal Street.

“We are very well-known for, let’s just say, our sophomoric humor,” Garrett said.

Like Chewbacchus, Krewe du Vieux was also told they’d need more police to provide extra security. Normally, they pay for 55 officers. This year, they’d need to pay for 110. Garrett said it’s harder for walking krewes to absorb the extra costs that come with the extra security.

“This isn’t Endymion,” she said. “The people who are marching in these krewes, these are regular New Orleanians. They’re school teachers. They might be retired — regular folks.”

While they’re not covered under “municipal Mardi Gras,” walking parades like Krewe du Vieux say they also cause a substantial economic impact for the city. An economic impact study done by the University of New Orleans last year found that Krewe du Vieux alone generated almost $2 million for the city.

The walking krewes and city council argue that’s why the city should support them.

“If you talk to the businesses along a Chewbacchus or Krewe du Vieux route, they'll say those walking troupes do not go along traditional Mardi Gras routes,” Morrell said. “So for some of those businesses, they literally count on that infusion of people for the year.”

Aside from causing an economic impact and creating an opportunity for more locals to join in on the fun, these walking krewes hearken to the origins of Mardi Gras.

Vatican Lokey, better known locally as Professor Carl Nivale, a Mardi Gras historian who has been covering parades for almost 30 years for local TV, said the very first krewes had similar beginnings back in the 1800s.

“Krewes like Comus, when they first began marching in 1857, they had to borrow their costumes from a touring Shakespearian company just to be able to make the procession and the ball for that evening,” Nivale said. “But they started the same way as many of the marching krewes today started — a lot of people getting together and deciding, ‘Let's put on a parade and be part of the Carnival heritage.’”

The city began financially supporting float parades like Rex to inspire more tourism and bring more people to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, Nivale said, but there's still the question of the people who “actually live and work and die here.”

“Those are the people who truly make Carnival and Mardi Gras happen,” Nivale said. “Those marching krewes are true communities inside of the greater New Orleans area that come together in order to make the parades that they make and to make magic for themselves and for all of our visitors and the residents.”

The walking krewes are working with the city council and the City of New Orleans to change the city’s code so more walking parades can receive financial support for security.

They’re still working on the metrics, but they’ll likely include the parades’ economic impact and other factors, such as how long the krewe has been in existence.

If the city’s code is changed, it could also include non-Carnival parades like the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Southern Decadence — the latter of which caused an economic impact of around $380 million over Labor Day weekend, according to the latest available data.

Morrell said they’re hoping to have “significant movement” by 2026 or 2027 at the latest. But there’s still the question of what will happen during next year’s Mardi Gras and whether the city will cover extra security costs again.

A spokesperson from Morrell’s office said they don’t know what security will be like next year, but “the council will work with NOPD and the walking krewes to address the issue well in advance of next Mardi Gras season.”

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.