On February 2, 1872, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia landed in Memphis, Tennessee, having come by boat down the Mississippi River from St. Louis. News of his planned arrival led Memphis to organize a Mardi Gras celebration, a custom that had begun in Mobile, Alabama and spread to New Orleans, Louisiana by young men who had moved from the Alabama city to Louisiana. The Grand Duke would leave Memphis on February 8 to go further downriver to Vicksburg, and then New Orleans, where he rode in the first Rex parade, but Memphis would continue having Mardi Gras until around 1890. Gradually, Memphis replaced it with a similar celebration in May called Cotton Carnival. Although Memphis had krewes called Ra, Ptah, Memphi, Shelbi, the Boll Weevils and the Cotton Makers Jubilee. all events were held in May rather than during Mardi Gras season. By the 1990s, even Cotton Carnival was a thing of the past.
Although Mardi Gras is held in many cities other than New Orleans, such as Pensacola, Galveston, Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria, it has not been much of a thing in Memphis. There is generally a parade of some sort, usually down Beale Street. This year, the organization called Mardi Gras Memphis organized something a little bigger, a parade that did not merely go down Beale Street but up Second Street to Court Square, and then around to Main Street, and one that featured a number of area marching bands, including LeMoyne-Owen College, Raleigh-Egypt High School, Hamilton High School, Kingsbury High School, Craigmont High School and Havenview Middle School. There of course were also car clubs, and politicians running for office.
Altogether it was fun, and better than what usually happens, but it still wasn’t the season of parades between January 6 and Mardi Gras Day that Memphis needs. Perhaps the most fun of the day was the battle of bands and drumlines which occurred after the parade at the intersection of Main Street and McEwen Avenue downtown. Particularly notable was the Craigmont High School drumline, which played a series of cadences in the intersection.
Although there were still piles of snow on the ground, it was the first warm day, and for many the first day they could get out after what amounted to a two-week winter storm. Hopefully, the Mardi Gras season can be built off of this one parade into a full season of parades.