“Excuse me; do you know where Mardi Gras is?”

My family stopped in our tracks, looked confused for a couple of seconds, and then my dad pointed in the direction we were walking and said, “Over there.”

We chuckled as they walked off.

My family spent Mardi Gras in Waxahachie, Texas.  A couple of years ago a pub there decided to throw a Mardi Gras parade.  My parents said we had to go to it this year.  Let me tell you now that any city, town, village, hamlet, house, boat, barn, or carport in South Louisiana could put together a better parade than these Texans did.  But, we had fun.

And we’re going to make a float next year and show ‘em how it’s done.

When it comes to Mardi Gras we don’t exclude outsiders, right?  My family didn’t laugh at the people asking for the location of Tuesday.  We just chuckled at their innocent question, pointed them to the party, and then we partied with them.  Next year we’re going to give the entire town of Waxahachie a further education because we don’t care if they want to emulate our fun… in true South Louisiana fashion we would love it if they join our party and we would be honored if they decided to do it like we do it.

On the way home from that trip I thought about J.P. MacFadyen and St. Patrick’s Day.  What is it like for an Irish/Scottish American to see a big white tent with green beer (made from beer that isn’t even an Irish beer) on Ambassador Cafferey Parkway every St. Patrick’s Day?  What does he think of the fact that I automatically exclude myself from the festivities because I don’t have red hair or pasty white skin?

I got to walk a mile in his shoes in Texas during Mardi Gras and, much like my parents and I want to show people how we really do things for our cultural event, J.P. & Michelle want to show all of us in Acadiana how to properly let loose on St. Patrick's Day… and you don’t have to have red hair or pasty white skin to participate!

Start by marking off lunchtime on March 17^th on your calendars.  You’ll want to be in our parking lot.  We’ll have traditional Irish dancers (former members of Riverdance) performing as well as music from members of Celjun.  We’ll serve our Irish Soda Bread, Gouda Beer Bread, Irish Stew, and we'll have Shamrock cookies available for dessert.  Dancing starts at 1pm and goes until J.P. has a little too much liquid courage in him.

If you’ve got a kilt, feel free to wear it or just gawk at J.P. like most of us do... but make sure to wear green!