Venice Beach Mardi Gras Parade and After Party at Danny’s

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/06/2016
11:00 am - 5:00 pm

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Miss Jessica and the The Gumbo Brothers to host the 15th Annual Venice Beach Mardi Gras Parade on the Venice Beach Boardwalk this Sat. Feb. 6, 2016! Get your costumes ready for this fun and colorful event!

Who can participate: Everyone
Admission: Free
Theme~Cosmic Future!
Mardi Gras Parade meeting time: 11:00 a.m. at the North City Parking lot (Rose Ave and The Venice Boardwalk)
Beach Parking Lot $9
After party will be at Danny’s Venice, 23 Windward Ave. from 2:00-5:00 p.m. Dance party with live music by Miss Jessica and the Gumbo Brothers. Venice Paparazzi will be hosting an automated photo booth. Free 4 x6 prints for all guests courtesy of Danny’s. See you there!

View 2015 Venice Beach Mardi Gras Parade event photo highlights below by Venice Paparazzi.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Venice-Beach-Mardi-Gras-Parade-156643371150720/?fref=ts

A little Venice History: Following insert by Jeffrey Stanton.

“Venice held its first annual Mardi Gras Festival August 16-18, 1935. The three day event featuring parades, costumes, contests and entertainment, was modeled after the New Orleans event.

It began with the arrival of King Neptune in an outrigger canoe followed by Queen Venetia’s coronation and a royal procession along Ocean Front Walk. The queen read a proclamation commanding her subjects to engage in three days of fun and frivolity. The afternoon parade featured floats and costumed merrymakers wearing enormous plaster of paris heads that were manufactured in Arthur Reese’s studio. Windward Avenue was roped off for a street carnival where wandering gondoliers entertained. The parade included Keystone Cops and people wearing enormous plaster of paris head gear. The king and queen’s float along Venice’s Ocean Front Walk. – 1938. There was an afternoon treasure hunt for children and an evening program of aquatic events on Saturday. Sunday’s Miss California beauty pageant drew huge crowds, and a Mardi Gras Ball in the evening capped the celebration. The Mardi Gras Festival became an annual event of considerable importance prior to World War II. It became bigger and better each succeeding year and civic pride improved. By 1941 five hundred thousand people attended the expanded four day event in its final year. For more history on Venice, visit Jeffrey Stanton’s website , or purchase his book “Venice California-The Cooney Island of the Pacific“.