It is the Mardi Gras season in Alabama and Mobile has already started celebrating. The City of Mobile started celebrating the holiday when the city was founded in 1702. Fat Tuesday will be on February 13th which which means Joe Cain Day will be celebrated in Mobile on February 11th. This is an important day of celebration for Mobilians. Judi Gulledge is the executive director of the Mobile Carnival Association. She explains the significance of the man. “He is the person who was responsible for revitalizing Mardi Gras after the Civil War," she said, "and so, he plays a real prominent role in our Carnival celebrations here. As a matter of fact, we have an entire day. The Sunday before Fat Tuesday is called Joe Cain Day.”
Many outside of Alabama think of New Orleans when they think of Mardi Gras. Even though Mobile and New Orleans are sister cities, there are many differences in its celebrations.
"First of all, Mobile is much smaller and family oriented and, therefore, when you come to our parades here you're going to find a very safe and family friendly environment. It's not uncommon along the streets to see everyone from the youngest of the young, babies in strollers, all the way up to folks in their 80s and 90s hanging on the barricades all clamoring for these trinkets and toys that people are throwing off," Gulledge said.
Gulledge said another difference is that the individual mystic organizations actually fund their own parades in Mobile and that they are built new each year. "Immediately after Mardi Gras is over, they will take their floats back to the barn, they will tear them down, they will come up with a theme for the next year and they start immediately building them back," Gulledge said. "If you come to to see a parade in Mobile, what you're going to see is it's really like a pageant unfolding. It's a play. So, there's going to be a title float which announces the title of that particular parade. And then the floats that follow it will make that title come to life and so it tells a story."
The Mobile Carnival Association runs the Mobile Carnival Museum in downtown Mobile which acts as a resource for all things Mardi Gras related in the City of Mobile. More information on the museum can be found here.
