LaMardi Gras Parade

King and Queen of the LaMardi Gras

Goose Island State Park Float Shows a fishing theme-Free fishing at all State parks

Neighbor, Wayne pulled the float - Notice the Goose on top!

Does this Dune Buggy bring back memories from the 60's

I liked this one for it's vibrant colors

Sign says "This Vehicle Runs on 100% Bio-Fuels. Don't Step in the exhaust"

These are some America's finest, R.O.T.C.

After a day or two of gloomy weather and being cooped up inside, it was great waking up this morning to sunshine. I don't know if the temp even got up to 60 degress, but with the sun it seemed pretty warm. Here on Goose Island they are celebrating their own little Mardi Gras. The town here is Lamar, and so they call it the LaMardi Gras. This is put on by the firehouse here and is a two day affair. There is live music and food for sale at the firehouse. There was a Chinese Auction going on. Of course all of this is to raise funds for the Volunteer Fire Co. The parade was great and was about an hour long.

Al and I brought our folding chairs along and had a great seat to see the parade. Of course the traditional beads were thrown and we collected more than our share! The State Park here on Goose Island had a float and our next door neighbors, Wayne and Julie were in the parade. Lots of great floats that really showed a lot of talent. The King of the LaMardi Gras named Stormy is also the Manager of the State Park here. He is retiring this year, so it was great that he was chosen for this great honor.

The town of Lamar only has about 1,000 residents, so the parade was pretty impressive considering their small size. Of course lots of people came from the neighboring town of Rockport since it's just over the bridge from here.

Tonight we went back over to listen to some of the music and had some Gumbo and Shrimp which was very good. Another opportunity I found to get out of cooking! It was a really fun day and we really enjoyed it!