NEW ORLEANS PARADES FROM THE PAST

While the coronavirus pandemic will keep Mardi Gras parades off the streets this year, WYES-TV is giving you a front row seat for NEW ORLEANS PARADES FROM THE PAST.

In this one-hour program, rare home movies and archival footage offer a glimpse at past parades of Rex, Comus, Zulu, Endymion, Bacchus and nearly a dozen other krewes.

Highlights include some of the earliest known footage of Rex parades from the 1920s, as well as footage showing the huge crowds that greeted the Rex and Zulu parades on Canal Street in the 1940s.

The program also features local TV legend Mel Leavitt narrating coverage of the 1954 Comus parade in the French Quarter, where parades rolled until 1973.

Rare footage of the first Endymion parade in 1967 and the inaugural Bacchus parade in 1969 show the origins of those two parades, before they became superkrewes.

Other krewes highlighted in the program include Proteus, Hermes, Mid-City, Venus and Thoth.

The one-hour program is hosted by Peggy Scott Laborde and produced by Dominic Massa.
Providing commentary throughout the program are Carnival historians Arthur Hardy and Errol Laborde.