Spanish Town residents went all out for their first ever ‘Reverse Parade’

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The good times are still rolling in Spanish Town, even though the historic parade did not flood the streets, some still partook in the fun with a “reverse parade.”

It may not be a traditional Mardi Gras, but Spanish Town refused to lose its color. Today, folks paraded down the streets—in cars or on foot—blaring music, passing out some beads and most importantly decked out in pink. “To keep it alive, let everybody know that, hey, just because it’s not a parade, it’s still Spanish Town day. So, you can still live life and enjoy things,” says Robert King who is the president of Spanish Town Mardi Gras.

Spanish Town’s reverse parade still flocked with flamingos, but this year mainly on houses. The krewe put together a pretty in pink context, where people decorated their houses for neighbors to see.

“It’s wonderful we love living in Spanish Town, but this is really just really brings the neighborhood together. Everybody is decorating, we just had fun doing it, and today just to see it all of the neighbors walk around and we’ll be walking around to see all of our neighbors’ beautiful homes as well,” says Jamie Gober who decorated her for this year’s reverse parade.

People can vote for their favorite house on the Spanish Town Civic Association’s website, and they’ll post the winner on Ash Wednesday.

Though most neighbors says they’re not in it for the competition, “because Mardi Gras, you can’t kill Mardi Gras. So, Mardi Gras is still a thing, and even though we can’t celebrate it we’re still going to have fun and do it in a safe way,” says Tom Jones who has been coming to the parade for the past five years.

Even if it’s not the normal lavish parade with floats and crowds, folks still partied in the streets to keep their tradition alive.

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