The police closed off the highway (the main road) in Lafayette for the parade. People were lined up all along the route (3 1/2 miles) to watch the parade and enjoy the music.
Of course, like many parades there were the marching bands. 
But the floats were so unusual. The faces are to scare away the devil and other mean spirits.
Every float had a different face or figure on the front of it.
All the floats had people riding up high and down low throwing Mardi Gras beads! We were there to catch them! Can you see the beads flying in the upper left hand corner of the picture?
Grace and I caught a lot of beads. I'm wearing most of mine! That kind of a parade really gets you in the Mardi Gras mood.
In the afternoon we went to Iota for a real Cajun Mardi Gras. One of the first things we saw was the big vat of grease used to fry pork rinds. Greasy, but good!!
After they reach just the right "poppin" stage they are spread out and bagged for sale to the party revelers.
What would Mardi Gras be without a lot of Cajun dancing. The stage was full of dancers having a good time.
Grace and Leo just danced in the street. The music was so good and the beat just had you dancing where ever you happened to be.
Grace got Frank up on the dance floor and they two stepped to the great Cajun music.
The "petite Madri Gras" was first with the children dressed up in their Mardi Gras costumes complete with the face masks so the devil can't recognize them.
Then they danced and begged for money to help buy food for the big pot of gumbo at the end of Mardi Gras.
Then the "drunken" Mardi Gras were rounded up and paraded all around.
Then the "drunken" Mardi Gras were rounded up and paraded all around.And the "hunters" show off their catch, which goes in the big pot of Gumbo. Above is a Mardi Gras hunter with the chicken he caught.
After we got home we dumped our "haul" of beads and the tee shirts we bought out on the bed. Grace even gave us a Mardi Gras plastic bag to put everything into.
The above shirt is Franks from the party in Iota. It is called "ti Mamou" and shows the catching of the "meat" for the gumbo, and the costumes for the Marti Gras.
This was a real Acadian Mardi Gras. Not commercialized for the tourists. You could feel the small town party atmosphere. And Leo and Grace were the most wonderful hosts. Every where we went someone knew them and greeted them with hugs. It was a most memorable day.
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