How to go
What: MainStrasse Mardi Gras
When: 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Main Street, Covington, Ky.
Cost: $10-$15
More info: 859-491-0458 or www.mainstrasse.org
For the 18th consecutive year, revelers who want to experience Mardi Gras without purchasing an expensive plane ticket will be sashaying down to the MainStrasse Village in Covington, Ky., this weekend.
Throwing a local Mardi Gras party is one of several ways they try to entice visitors to the historic area filled with century-old buildings and specialty shopping, said Donna Kremer, administrative coordinator of the MainStrasse Village Association.
“(Mardi Gras) is a known event,” she said. “We’re always trying to find reasons to get people here and see what’s available in terms of shops and restaurants.”
The shopping includes specialty boutiques, jewelry stores and music shops, while the restaurants include ethnic pubs, wine bars and pizzerias. To commemorate Mardi Gras and its city of origin, several bars will participate in a contest for the best Hurricane, a New Orleans invention consisting of rum mixed with a fruity juice or syrup.
“Each bar will have its own recipe,” Kremer said. “The public will vote, and there’ll be a panel of judges.”
MainStrasse will host two parades, one for each evening. Friday night will feature the Big Head Parade, featuring blown-up popular fictional characters.
“We’ve done fairy tales, nursery rhymes and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in the past,” Kremer said. “This year, the theme is ‘Star Wars.’ But individualscan come in and do anything you want. We had a group that did Viking warriors one year. Another was rock stars who are no longer with us.”
Saturday night is the Grande Parade, which is more float-based. Afterward, party-goers can retreat to an entertainment tent, featuring live music, drinks, and Cajun food by Shiska Haus, an outside food vendor who will be offering “Gumbalaya” (gumbo and jambalaya mixed), red beans and rice, crawfish and, for non-New Orleans palettes, familiar Midwestern fare such as rib tips and chicken wings.
“The tent closes at 1 a.m., but you can keep going to the area bars, which have licenses to stay open until 2:30 a.m.,” Kremer said.
Naturally, no Mardi Gras would be complete without the dissemination of beads, although anyone hoping for the fleshly barter system often seen in The Big Easy will be disappointed.
“You can buy beads and people in the parade will be throwing them out,” Kremer said. “But there’s no trades. People like to see who can get the most and deck themselves out.”
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