Mobile’s Mardi Gras season is measured in moon pies and marching orders, but the Conde Explorers’ 2011 pre-parade party delivered a number worth noting: an estimated 87,000 people filled the streets for the society’s pre-parade festivities, according to organizers.
The gathering served as the launch point for the Conde Explorers’ parade ride, with the society’s leadership — including Kris Skoda and Benji — on hand as members and revelers celebrated ahead of the procession through downtown Mobile.
A Party Built for the Whole City
Unlike the formal invitation-only balls that dot the Carnival calendar, the pre-parade party is an open-streets celebration, and the Conde Explorers have built their reputation around exactly that accessibility. The society, founded to bring a family-friendly, open-membership flavor to Mobile’s oldest celebration, has made its pre-parade gathering one of the signature kickoff events of the season.
Organizers said the mood was pure Mardi Gras: crowds packed along the route, throws flying, and music carrying from the Civic Center area down into the downtown core.
A video tribute documenting the party and the ride that followed was in the works, the society noted, with footage capturing the crowd, the floats, and the unmistakable energy of a Mobile Carnival weekend.