Ole Miss students participate in Mardi Gras festivities on Bourbon Street Saturday.
DM Photo | Logan Kirkland
Each year, many students pack their bags and head south to New Orleans for Mardi Gras weekend. Purple, gold and green paint the city while crowds flow through Bourbon Street and along parade routes.
Ole Miss freshman Ashley Ramirez, a Louisiana native, lives about an hour outside of New Orleans.
“I went to a lot of parades when I was younger but hadn’t gone these past few years,” Ramirez said. “I was excited to go back to New Orleans as a college student. It’s all about experiencing the Louisiana pride.”
The road trip to New Orleans is a six-hour drive and just over 350 miles from Oxford.
“It can be a pretty long drive for a weekend trip, but Mardi Gras only happens once a year, so it’s completely worth it,” Ramirez said. “I get excited seeing all of the other cars driving into NOLA with Ole Miss stickers; it’s like a different version of our road Rebs.”
This year was the first time visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras for students like sophomore Corbin Smith.
“Mardi Gras exceeded my expectations. You hear about it, and you see pictures, but being there is a whole other experience,” Smith said. “You get a weird sense of accomplishment when the float riders toss you the beads.”
Some students have made Mardi Gras an annual tradition like junior Sam Russell. This was Russell’s third Mardi Gras trip.
“Mardi Gras is one of the best parties in the country, and the fact that it is relatively close to Oxford means that everyone has to go at least once,” Russell said.
Parades drive through the streets with the float riders throwing souvenirs like cups, toys and the trademark plastic bead necklaces.
“New Orleans is like nowhere else with the food, the sights, the sounds and the smells,” Russell said. “Receiving mild concussions from shiny plastic beads flying at your face from the top of floats are totally worth the experiences that are Mardi Gras.”
Along with Ole Miss students, people from all over the world and country travel to New Orleans to take part in the celebrations, even celebrities. Luke Bryan was named the Grand Marshall for this year’s Endymion parade. He rode in the parade, singing and tossing out beads, then performed that night in the Superdome.
“Seeing Luke Bryan solidified my trip to NOLA,” Smith said. “New Orleans is one of my new favorite places.”
