The Krewe of Freret had their annual Mardi Gras street parade on Saturday, February 22. Their Uptown route started at the intersection of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street and ended at Poydras St. The Krewe of Freret paraded for nearly 40 years up until the 90’s when it dissipated. Luckily in 2011, seven Loyola graduates brought Freret back to life with the mission of unifying young professionals, supporting local industry, and revitalizing the Freret neighborhood. This year’s Freret Royalty is King Anderson Lewis III & Queen Carlyle Herbert Ryan.
The krewe is currently made up of 500 co-ed members; many of which are local vendors, artists, and entertainers. In 2020, the krewe expanded their partnership with float builder’s Kern Studios to help make Freret into the next Super Krewe. The partnership led to the krewes current signature floats, and the largest float prop ever affixed to a Mardi Gras Float — a bust of Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, who was the krewe’s 2020 Grand Marshall.
Other notable floats are dedicated to New Orleans musical stars, including Juvenile, Big Freedia, Boyfriend, Dr. John, Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Ellis Marsalis, Professor Longhair, and Allen Toussaint. Alongside the Irma Thomas medallions and others featuring the aforementioned musicians, the krewe will throw their signature hand decorated masks that krewe members work on year-round.
The krewe hosted its fifth annual Shorty Gras following their street parade. The play on Mardi Gras is the krewes annual ball and music festival at Mardi Gras World. Musical guests for this year were Ja Rule, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, The Soul Rebels, New Breed Brass Band, and special guest Big Boi.
Words by Emily Cigan @emily.cigan and Amy Harris @thetraveladdictig