March 4, 2014
Lafayette, Louisiana
The Mardi Gras Miracle of 2014
It may not rival the miracle of five loaves and two fish chronicled in the New Testament but it certainly fed the needs of hundreds of dance pilgrims in need of an exclamation mark to cap Mardi Gras 2014.
PART 1 The Unthinkable
The unheard-of descended upon southwest Louisiana this morning. Freezing rain and ice gripped the region on, of all days in the year, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day.
Residents feel like they have woken up in one of Ernest Shackleton's expedition camps in the Antarctic. People down this way rarely see snow let alone black ice and icicles. Warm rains? There have been plenty of Mardi Gras parades in the rain. But ice? The most people down here know about ice is that they fill beer coolers with it.
Tree limbs glisten with translucent layers of ice. People slip on steps as they exit their houses. They have no idea how to scrape ice from windshields. One man describes attempting it with a credit card. You have to give him credit for ingenuity. Interstate I – 10 is closed, ice making traffic over dozens of overpass bridges impossible.
The Tee Mamou Mardi Gras Festival in Iota is canceled. When the proud, tough, independent people of Iota cancel their heralded Tee Mamou Mardi Gras day, you know something catastrophic is occurring.
Street dances and fairs across the region are cancelled. Parades go on in Lafayette and surrounding towns, but floats move more rapidly than usual, bead throwers and krewe members layer up with every article of outerwear they own.
A street cam capturing the parade route in downtown Lafayette shows Mardi Gras floats lumbering with all due speed through town with only the hardiest of partiers watching from behind the barriers set up along the parade route.
Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, is a huge event in southwest Louisiana, probably bigger than Christmas – sorry Jesus. Mother Nature has slipped the region a Mickey. Cancellation of Mardi Gras celebrations? Never heard of. But it happens today.
Hundreds of out-of-town dancers from red and blue states across America peer disconsolately out of their Lafayette hotel rooms and pray for a miracle to deliver them a dance they can drive to without fear of ending up in a ditch.
Today is the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae known as Mardi Gras week. They have been gearing up to dance to this final blast of joyful Cajun and zydeco music since they arrived last week. For some unfathomable reason they do not push the panic button. This is Mardi Gras. Nothing short of the second coming of the aforementioned Jesus shall deny dance destiny… surely someone will organize something.
PART 2 The Miracle
Somewhere around 10 AM a giant cyclotron begins to whir mightily. What transpires in the next 20 minutes shall be known henceforth as "The Mardi Gras Miracle of 2014".
The play-by-play goes like this…
10:09 AM
Bernard Ussher, an Irishman via Boston and Dublin, now a Lafayette shaker and mover of the first order, calls the proprietor of Randol's Restaurant and Dance Hall in Lafayette. Perhaps she would rent the dance hall, Bernard and others could bring a stack of CDs and party on. Ussher calls Gerry Spanger.
10:12 AM
Gerry Spanger, host of a huge Mardi Gras week party in Breaux Bridge, calls the owner of La Poussiere in Breaux Bridge.
10:14 AM
Gerry Spanger confirms La Poussiere is available to rent for the afternoon. Ussher and Spanger call Dick Brainard.
10:18 AM
Dick Brainard, organizer of serious music events in Portland, WA, and supporter of the annual Carrier Family Tribute to the late Roy Carrier, contacts Chubby Carrier, who says his gig in Franklin, Louisiana, has been canceled because of the ice on Interstate 10.
10:21 AM
Dick informs Bernard and Gerry that Chubby Carrier is available to play and they book La Poussiere from 2 PM to 5 PM on Freezing Fat Tuesday
10:29 AM
Bernard cancels effort to secure Randols Restaurant and Dance Hall.
Ussher to Spanger to Brainard, a modern day version of Tinkers to Evers to Chance, the Chicago Cubs infield trio renowned for their lightning-smooth, well-executed teamwork back in the day and memorialized by Franklin Pierce Adams's poem in 1910.
10:42 AM Dick Brainard announces the dance to the crowd at the Ramada Inn and the first broadcast email via acadiana@googlegroups announces the dance followed by a Facebook blast.
2:00 PM
Grammy Award winning musician Chubby Carrier and his Bayou Swamp Band sets up to play at what some consider the best dance floor in southwest Louisiana, La Poussiere.
3:00 PM VIDEO
Nearly 200 dancers are sweating in La Poussiere and the dance floor is bouncing like a Louisiana Hay Ride.
And thanks to a Facebook plea issued by Bernard Ussher, everybody brings food!
“Enough money was taken in to cover the hall rent plus a good payday for the band. Everyone was so happy, as exhibited by the great smiles all round. The event saved the day for all those who had flown in for Mardi Gras, ” Dick Brainard reports.
“Considered one of the best turnouts at La Poussiere ...certainly for one of a few hours notice ...” Bernard Ussher says.
And, by any dancers account, a Mardi Gras Miracle.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dancers braved the slick roadways, the parking lot and nearby streets filled with cars by 2:00 PM. The dance floor sprang to life when Grammy Award-winning Chubby Carrier and His Bayou Swamp Band lit into their first song and stayed that way for hours.
Chubby Carrier, an A-List performer, played drums with his father Roy's band when he was 12, began playing accordion and toured the world with Terence Siemien when he was 15, started his own band at the tender age of 22. He's got great patter going on with every audience. Chubby reads his audience well, mixes zydeco of different paces with pretty waltzes, and swampy belly-rubbin' blues. Chubby's been called "The World's Premier Zydeco Showman." No one would disagree this afternoon.
and a good time is had by all...
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
You really nailed this one, too. It truly was a Mardi Gras Miracle that made it possible for all of us to dance when the weather was so bad outside. I have seen cold Mardi Gras' and wet Mardi Gras', but not cold and wet at the same time....not a good combination. Hope I never do again.
Posted by: May Louise White | March 15, 2014 at 10:54 AM
One hellofa story! Nothing short of amazing reading from Part 1 "Unthinkable" play by play to Part 2, "Miracle" turning a disaster into another musical festivity not for the faint of heart. A tale not to be forgotten and surely retold by generations to come as the "Miracle Mardi Gras of 2014"!! almost unbelievable. Thank goodness for e-mail and Facebook...who woulda known back in the day modern technology came to the rescue of old time tradition! And thanks to PT at Large, your followers and fans gratefully got the scoop straight from the your computer and digital cam. without having to brave the elements of black ice. Smiles :)
Posted by: carole blossom | March 17, 2014 at 01:15 PM