MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile Museum of Art is marking its 50th anniversary with an exhibition devoted to “The Art and Design of Mardi Gras,” and the community is invited to celebrate the opening with a free, carnival-themed Family Festival planned for the weekend of Nov. 8 and 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the museum’s campus in Langan Park.
James Alexander, vice president of commercial lending for BancorpSouth and an active member of a Mobile Mardi Gras society, has chaired the Family Festival planning committee for about a year. “There’s a huge segment of society that loves Mardi Gras,” Alexander said. “We’re very excited about what we’re doing.” His committee has spent roughly six months coordinating a weekend expected to draw between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors.
The festival will take place outdoors around the museum’s grounds next to the lake, with tents available if weather requires them. Admission to the museum and the Mardi Gras exhibition will be free all weekend, along with nearby parking and shuttle service. The only costs attendees will encounter are food purchases and $5 decorate-your-own second-line umbrellas.
Organizers designed the weekend as a multi-sensory experience built around several interactive zones. In the Carnival Experience area, actual parade floats on loan from downtown float barns will be lined up for public viewing — something Alexander said has never been done before. Each day, a Mobile Police Department procession will lead the floats to the museum, where costumed maskers will meet and greet guests, hand out beads and Moon Pies, and pose for photos at a booth designed to look like a real parade scene.
Music plays a central role as well. Ten high school marching bands will compete Saturday in a “People’s Choice Award” penny-drive fundraiser, each playing roughly 20 minutes of Mardi Gras favorites before parading into the museum alongside the maskers. On Sunday, three local brass bands — Bay City Brass Band, Excelsior Band and Olympia Brass Band — will take over with longer sets, and a walking parade will loop through the grounds roughly every 30 to 45 minutes throughout both days. Additional hands-on activities include an instrument petting zoo, instrument-making stations and lessons in second-line dancing.
For a museum marking a half-century in the community, organizers say the festival is meant to capture what Alexander calls Mardi Gras’ role as “a wonderfully artistic adventure” — turning the season’s colorful floats, music and costumes into something families across the Mobile area can experience together, free of charge.