Many people don’t realize that St. Louis has the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the country. Things got a little bit out of hand, but most of what I saw was harmless fun. I was fortunate enough to be invited to a house party in a second story flat overlooking Russell street, so I could escape and use a real restroom when I felt like it. Now the real mystery: why are girls willing to expose themselves for a half-dollar string of beads? Maybe we should leave that question unanswered…
Tags: Drinking
February 23rd, 2004 at 12:46 pm
Personally, I think girls who do that are just demeaning themselves. I don’t find it necessary to take off my shirt for beads. I have never had a problem getting them ‘for free.’ One way is just to ask: last year I got a hundred beads from a guy I was dancing next to at “Lucky’s.” (I only asked for one.) I then divided those among my friends because it was entirely too many. This year I got mine from the parade, and people there would just randomly give them too.
There is no point taking off the shirt other than to get attention from guys. I guess that’s why girls do it, or maybe just because they want to be risky and its the only day it’s acceptable I guess. Either way, I think it’s a pathetic attempt from women to get attention from men. And the sad thing is, is that the men love it (yourself included silly!), so it will not stop.
February 23rd, 2004 at 12:52 pm
HA!!! I just read some articles. Looks like a whole 5 got charged with baring all. But 148 people were charged with urinating in public. How dumb can ya get? Funny!
February 23rd, 2004 at 1:32 pm
Personally, I think as long as men like breasts women will show ‘em… and a 50 cent string of beads is a much lower price that what you pay at PT’s!! So say bare it all!!!
February 23rd, 2004 at 11:49 pm
I’ve known girls that do a lot worse that show their breasts .. and it didn’t cost anything. The questions still swimming in my mind is … What is kewl about having your picture taken between two guys with their dicks hanging out?
Someone please enlighten me on that one!
February 24th, 2004 at 12:47 am
Ben, can you answer Troy’s question?
February 24th, 2004 at 11:52 am
I can’t explain it. It’s just fun to stand between two studs and have them pistol-whip you. It’s like going through a human automatic carwash without the rinse cycle.
November 8th, 2004 at 1:41 pm
i only have one comment- you don’t see any black girls baring their tits at mardi gras. it’s filled with dumb white girls. crazy ass pot smoking white girls. and yes, i am racist.
November 9th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
I think that you are mistaken. Mobile Alabama has the second largest Mardi Gras and the oldest in the country. On the girl’s issue and the last comment made she is right in part. I have never seen a black lady doing this it is mostly trashy white girls of young white girls. Oh, and I am white and not racist.
November 9th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Well I’m sure it’s up for debate, but there are many sources that claim
St. Louis has the 2nd largest celebration including:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis
http://tinyurl.com/exwrx
http://www.answers.com/topic/saint-louis-missouri
http://www.thecommonspace.org/.....nities.php
http://www.siue.edu/ALESTLE/li.....esday.html
http://www.kpmgcareers.com/loc.....tlouis.asp
http://globaltravelerusa.com/s.....4&pg=1
And hundreds more…
February 22nd, 2006 at 2:22 pm
New Orleans has competition for Mardi Gras By Jayne Clark, USA TODAY Posted 2/17/2006 7:35 AM
Hurricane Katrina may have rained on the parade in New Orleans, which is scaling back Mardi Gras from the usual two weeks to eight days, but pre-Lenten festivities in other U.S. locales are in full flush. In Mobile, Ala.: A bead-dazzling start to the Mardi Gras season. G.M. Andrews, Mobile Raegister, via AP
Traditional Mardi Gras revelry, from the hurling of Moon Pies off parade floats to the annual Mystic Krewe of Barkus, billed as the world’s largest pet parade, is set for the days leading up to Fat Tuesday on Feb. 28.
These twists on the Mardi Gras theme are playing out in a handful of alternative U.S. celebrations that have been growing in popularity in recent times. And this year, some locales anticipate even greater participation given that festivities in the Big Easy are reduced.
In Mobile, Ala., which, after New Orleans, boasts the second-largest U.S. Mardi Gras, parades are taking place almost daily through Feb. 28. This year, organizers expect a 20% increase over the 850,000 who attended in 2004. Local idiosyncrasy: the ritual throwing of Moon Pies from floats. The marshmallow confection replaces now-outlawed Cracker Jack boxes, which can pack a painful wallop.
First celebrated in 1703 by French settlers, Mobile’s fete is the nation’s oldest. But other Mardi Gras have less auspicious beginnings. St. Louis’ pre-Lenten party began when 13 guys sitting in a tavern in the city’s historic Soulard neighborhood decided to march from one bar to another. In the 27 years since, it has spawned three major parades — including the pet parade, which last year drew 6,000 critters and 100,000 spectators. The Grand Parade (Feb. 25) drew half a million spectators last year.
Galveston, Texas, boasts the only U.S. Mardi Gras celebration with an ocean view. Held in the city’s historic Strand District, last year’s festivities drew 300,000 over two weekends. Organizers say they’re gearing up for possible record crowds for the New Orleans-style party, whose unofficial theme this year salutes the Gulf Coast.
San Diego’s Fat Tuesday party in the Gaslamp Quarter is expected to draw 50,000, a far cry from its humble origins 14 years ago when two restaurant employees climbed into a Cadillac and tossed beads as they circled the block, hoping to inject some life into a slow Tuesday in March. Headlining Feb. 28: KC and the Sunshine Band.
Even tiny Norman, Okla., has gotten into the act, spurred on by a homegrown group of women dubbed the Norman Okra Queens, who wear gaudy dresses. “We’re large and green,” says member Harriette Leigh Kemp. The queens, along with 30 or so other “unidentified rolling objects,” will circle a downtown block twice Feb. 25. This year, the parade will honor Katrina evacuees living in Norman. The theme: “We ARE family.”
February 22nd, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Chicago Sun Times disagrees. Obviously it’s hard to define “biggest” especially when it’s so difficult to estimate the number of attendees, but I think it’s clear that St. Louis and Mobile have some pretty rocking festivities.
April 22nd, 2006 at 6:24 am
I beg your pardon, just because a girl goes out and has a little fun does’nt make her white trash, and I believe I did see a black girl riding topless on a white mans shoulders up and down the street that evening.What decade are you in!