Big boots to fill
Anthony Hingle Jr. didn’t touch beads or feathers for 32 years. Now he’s back in town, continuing the work of his father, Flagboy Meathead, a legend among Black Masking Indians.
Category: Lens Carnival Edition
A vibrant celebration of New Orleans culture through photography, storytelling, and community voices. This category captures the rhythm, color, and spirit of Carnival season—from the streets to the stands—highlighting the people, traditions, and energy that make Mardi Gras a living work of art.
All in a Carnival’s Pay
High winds on Mardi Gras Day truncated Rex’s route and kept Zulu from downtown New Orleans, taking a toll on business owners and on local school bands, which went unpaid for Zulu and other weather-affected parades. Then Rex announced that it would pay the bands booked for its parade, raising questions about the history of band payments from krewes – and why those payments matter.
The Lens Carnival Edition 2025
Our reporters stayed on their beats, covering how Carnival affects the way New Orleans works - and doesn't work.
Taking in parades together, but apart
New Orleanians maintain certain traditions at Carnival parades. We say hello to strangers, tote wagons and folding chairs and blankets. But along the St. Charles parade route, we most often settle in areas with our people.
Scattershot statutes
A satire of tragedy: the first Mardi Gras after Katrina
At that point in 2006, hardly anything seemed worthy of celebrating. Except everyone wanted and needed the kind of emotional release that comes with Carnival. We needed one day that brought New Orleans back to normal – or the abnormal, some would say.
Two decades of crotches as canvas
Best known for their merkins – pubic wigs – the Bearded Oysters have now been a symbol of feminist liberation for 20 years, within a few local parades, including Muses
The price of Passionfruit: how band directors balance the books
New Orleans band directors must see band as a small business, if they want to provide students — especially students in this high-poverty city — with instruments, uniforms, daily bus rides, food after parades, and all the tools they need to boost musicianship.
Floating an idea: a greener Carnival
Observers say that New Orleans may be seeing a culture shift, toward a more sustainable Carnival. This year, one parade – Krewe of Freret – even banned plastic beads. Key to these efforts is Grounds Krewe, a local nonprofit, which provides local krewes with tens of thousands of environmentally conscious parade-throws -- read below for the Top Five sustainable throws!
