Road work alters route for Saturday’s Krewe of Mardi Gras

Since 1993, the Krewe of Mardi Gras has rolled on the Saturday before Fat Tuesday on the eastside of Houma. This year though, due to road construction in the area, the 6:30 p.m. parade will take the west Houma route.

Krewe president Gerald Breaux said despite the changes, parade-goers can expect the same excitement as past years. “We’re going to give them a good party,” he said.

Still, Breaux said he feels bad for businesses along the krewe’s normal parade route. “We do feel sorry for the vendors and the merchants on that side,” he said. “All of the business owners, because that’s who’s taking the big suffering. They aren’t going to get nothing. They’re going to lose out on sales that day.”

However, the club will not be greatly affected, he said. “I don’t think it’s going to have a big effect on the parade,” said Breaux. “People are going to come to it on both sides (of town), is the way I look at it.

“You definitely have to purchase more beads,” he added. “They’re definitely going to have to spend money on beads.”

The major challenge that Breaux is facing will be getting his krewe members to the party at the East Houma Bingo Hall, afterward.

“My big party after the parade is on the eastside,” he said. “So I got to transport everybody from one side to the other side, because I have a band kicking off at 10:30 p.m. People are going to be trying to get wherever they have to be at.”

And Breaux did not have a lot of time to make his adjustments. He said sometime during the middle of last week was when word came that the route would have to be changed. “It was about a week’s notice.”

He added that members of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office and HTV have played a role in helping to make the changes flow more smoothly. “Pat Boudreaux and Jerry Larpenter have helped me out tremendously,” he said. “They’ve given me suggestions of what to do, how to transport people … how to get busses.”