The Half-Fast Walking Club is a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe founded and historically led by Pete Fountain , until his death on August 6, 2016. Originally all on foot, in recent decades it has also featured one or two small floats. Fountain and other local jazz musicians played through much of the parade. The krewe's current route, basically unchanged since the mid-1970s, starts at 7 AM on Mardi Gras morning, at world-famous Commander's Palace Restaurant on Washington Avenue in the Garden District. The krewe then proceeds downtown on St. Charles Avenue and after a brief interlude on Canal Street, enters the French Quarter at Bourbon Street, winds around the Quarter and eventually ends up at the Monteleone Hotel in the early afternoon.
18-501: The "Half-Fast" is one of the best known marching Krewes that parades in New Orleans on Mardi Gras. The original name was "The Half-Assed Walking Club" and was an excuse to take a "lubricated" musical stroll down the parade route. Pete changed the name under pressure exerted by the parade organizers. On Mardi Gras 2007 Pete once again joined his Half Fast Walking Club, having missed the event in 2006 due to illness. He died in 2016. One of
36-416: A parade crowd and crashed into a dump truck. Terrorism was quickly ruled out when a breathalyzer test was three times over the legal driving limit. On March 2, 2019, an impaired driver killed two people and injured seven others when he plowed through a bicycle lane during the parade. On February 22, 2020, the parade was halted and cancelled after 13 floats, after a spectator was struck and killed between
54-592: A tradition of being extremely generous with its throws , tossing millions of beads , cups, doubloons and trinkets during its annual parade, held the Saturday before Mardi Gras . Unlike many other Carnival Krewes, Endymion announces the season theme months prior to Mardi Gras. Samedi Gras is the Endymion pre-parade block party located between Carrollton and City Park Avenue. Samedi Gras begins at noon on parade day. The Captain and riding celebrities arrive early and address
72-836: Is a social organization that stages parades and/or balls for the Carnival season. The term is best known for its association with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans , but is also used in other Carnival celebrations throughout Louisiana (e.g. in Lafayette , Shreveport , and Baton Rouge ) and along the Gulf of Mexico , such as the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida , Springtime Tallahassee , and Krewe of Amalee in DeLand, Florida with
90-596: Is also based in Lafayette, and was founded in 1928. Today, most Carnival krewes date their origins to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Krewe members are assessed fees in order to pay for the parade or ball. Fees can range from thousands of dollars a year per person for the most elaborate parades, to as little as $ 20 a year for smaller clubs . Criteria for krewe membership varies similarly, ranging from exclusive organizations largely limited to relatives of previous members to other organizations open to anyone able to pay
108-508: Is one of only three Super Krewes (using floats and celebrity Grand Marshals ), and is the largest of the parades participating in the New Orleans Mardi Gras . Many people begin saving their viewing spots for this parade several days before the parade actually rolls, although spot-saving is widely frowned upon and is discouraged. It was founded in 1966 and named after Endymion {en-dim'-ee-uhn}, from Greek mythology . The first ball
126-564: The Canal Streetcar Line , a circumstance which repeated in 2006 and 2007 due to a lack of manpower within the NOPD in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Endymion returned to Mid-City in 2008 and is the only remaining parade in the New Orleans city limits which does not use the Uptown route. On February 25, 2017, an impaired driver injured between 28 and 32 people when his pickup truck hit two cars and
144-627: The Mistick Krewe , the Krewe of Proteus , Rex , Zulu , Twelfth Night Revelers , and the Knights of Momus . While there is no official definition for "super Krewe", it is generally accepted that a super krewe possesses over 1000 active dues paying members and maintains at least 500 riders for its parade each carnival. Krewe of Endymion The Krewe of Endymion is a New Orleans Mardi Gras super krewe and social organization. The Krewe of Endymion
162-585: The Mardi Gras on Mainstreet Parade as well as in La Crosse, Wisconsin and at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival . The word is thought to have been coined in the early 19th century by a New Orleans–based organization calling themselves Ye Mistick Krewe of Comus , as an archaic affectation ; with time, it became the most common term for a New Orleans Carnival organization. The Mistick Krewe of Comus itself
180-863: The crowds and the Endymion Parade begins shortly after. The parade is immediately followed with a party called the Endymion Extravaganza . It was held from 1974 to 1980 at the now demolished Rivergate Convention Center . Since 1981, it has been held in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome , except in 2006 when it was held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center due to repairs to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina ; 2011 due to ongoing renovations; and 2023 and 2024 due to extensive renovations in advance of Super Bowl LIX . The Krewe
198-525: The halves of a tandem float. Following the incident, as well as a similar death during the Nyx parade earlier in the week, the city of New Orleans banned interconnected floats from the remaining Mardi Gras parades that year. Parades were canceled in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As parades resume in 2022, the city may require further safety measures surrounding tandem floats. New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson
SECTION 10
#1733093589383216-475: The membership fee. Krewes with low membership fees may also require members to work to help build and decorate the parade floats and make their own costumes; higher priced krewes hire professionals to do this work. Parading krewe members are usually responsible for buying their own throws such as beads and coins, which are thrown to parade spectators according to tradition. Some krewes also have other events, such as private dances or parties, for members throughout
234-568: The more famous members of the Half-Fast Walking Club was singer and bandleader Phil Harris , famous as a Disney voice and as Jack Benny 's orchestra leader. In his last appearance in 1990, Harris did not walk due to age but was chauffeured in a convertible while waving to the crowd and throwing trinkets. This article on a United States band or other musical ensemble is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Krewes A krewe ( / k r uː / KROO )
252-532: The year. Some also make a point of supporting charities and good causes. Some krewes restrict their membership to one sex, while others allow co-ed membership. For example, the Krewe of Endymion from New Orleans and Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla from Tampa are currently restricted to men only. Examples of female-only krewes include the New Orleans' Krewe of Cleopatra and Krewe of Muses and Tampa's Krewe of Venus. The first Krewes to parade during Mardi Gras are referred to as "old line krewes". These include
270-525: Was Grand Marshal of the 2010 parade only six days following his franchise's victory in Super Bowl XLIV over the Indianapolis Colts . Benson was the first celebrity Grand Marshal not from the entertainment industry. The parade was not held in 2021; it was planned the next year for Saturday February 26, 2022, before Mardi Gras on Tuesday March 1, 2022. Its motto, "Throw Until It Hurts", defines
288-565: Was held in 1968. The first Endymion parade rolled on February 4, 1967 in the Gentilly neighborhood near the New Orleans Fair Grounds horse racing facility. The parade remained on its original route until 1976, when it was shifted to its now traditional Mid-City route, rolling from Orleans Avenue to North Carrollton Avenue to Canal Street and into the Caesar's Superdome. The 1979 parade
306-769: Was inspired by the Cowbellion de Rakin Society that dated from 1830, a mystic society that organizes annual parades in Mobile, Alabama . The krewe system then spread from Mobile and New Orleans to other towns and cities with French Catholic heritage, including those with their own Mardi Gras traditions (such as the Courir de Mardi Gras ). Following those of New Orleans, Louisiana's next-oldest krewes are mostly based near Lafayette , which crowned its first Rex -style monarch, King Attakapas, in 1897. The state's oldest extant children's krewe, Oberon,
324-595: Was moved to the Jefferson Parish suburb of Kenner due to a strike by the New Orleans Police Department which forced the cancellation of a large number of parades within the city, including fellow super krewe Bacchus and all of the old-line parades, led by Rex, King of Carnival and the Mistick Krewe of Comus . The 2003 parade was forced to the Uptown route along St. Charles Avenue by construction of
#382617