ROUSES_JanFeb2021_Magazine_Pages

you oughta go see the

I’m at the Royal Street store in the French Quarter so I see everything, and I mean everything . From the streets, to the balconies, even the dogs dressed up for Barkus, there’s just so much creativity. I love all of the costumes. – Jomo Smith, Store Director, New Orleans

We live in Abita, so we go see Krewe of Push Mow every year. Instead of floats, they have decorated lawn mowers. It’s completely wacky. We know everybody in the parade, and everybody at the parade, and everybody’s having fun. – Marc Ardoin, Store Director, Kenner

My favorite part of Mardi Gras is the Bay Ratz Marching Battery, our homegrown youth drum corps, which marches in the Bay St. Louis parades. – Russell Veazey, Regional Director of Operations, Mississippi-North Shore

Music is how we know Mardi Gras is in full swing at Rouses Tchoupitoulas. Some of the greatest bands in the city take over our parking lot for a battle of the bands each year. There’s Carver High School vs. Kennedy High School, and the classic West Bank battle, L.B. Landry vs. Edna Karr, and so many more. Throughout the season we get thousands of parade-goers yelling for their favorite high school band. It’s just so much fun. – Stanley Duplessis, Store Director, New Orleans

I’ve got binders full of Rex doubloons that go back to 1960, which was the first year Rex threw them. Even though I’m not as big a collector as I used to be, I still want to get a Rex doubloon every year. – Chris Campbell, Regional Director of Operations, Baton Rouge

Move back…move back…move back. All three of my girls played in the band at Central Lafourche. I was a chaperone when they marched in the bayou parades, and a couple of the New Orleans parades. Move back…move back. – Morris Soudelier, Regional Director of Operations, Bayou Region

I grew up in a town where a parade was the little league team riding on the back of convertibles. I tell everyone back home, you haven’t been to a parade until you’ve been to Mardi Gras. I love looking at the fans as much as the floats. Everyone is just so happy, all because it’s Carnival time.

The best part of Mardi Gras is the king cake, although the parades are a close second. I love the smaller, local parades, like the one that rolls here in Denham Springs. Then there are the more eccentric parades, like Spanish Town. Everyone wears pink to that parade. And you’ve never seen so many pink flamingos.

I’m right there in the middle of the packed crowd trying to catch a moon pie. – Kenneth Jones, Regional District Manager, Alabama

– Larry Diehl, Regional District Manager, Greater New Orleans

– Michelle LeBlanc, Store Director, Denham Springs

I’ve loved Mardi Gras since childhood, when I rode on a kid’s float in the truck parade. It started in Shreveport and ended in Bossier City. It’s the only time I ever rode, but it’s probably one of my favorite Mardi Gras memories. – David Cadwallader, Regional Director of Operations, Lafayette-Lake Charles

I just love seeing the customers who I see every day in the stores out on the route celebrating. Mardi Gras is something we all celebrate together. – Chad Seales, Store Director, Lake Charles

6

ROUSES JANUARY FEBRUARY 2021