Mobile’s 2011 Carnival season ran from the first weekend of February through Fat Tuesday, March 8, with more than three dozen parades rolling through downtown — plus a pair of early afternoon processions out on Dauphin Island. Here’s how the season lined up.
February: The Season Opens
The Krewe de la Dauphine opened the season on Dauphin Island Saturday, Feb. 5, at 1 p.m., followed a week later by the Island Mystics on Feb. 12. Downtown action began Friday, Feb. 18, when the Conde Cavaliers rolled Route A at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 19 delivered an afternoon-and-night doubleheader: Bayport Parading Society at noon, then Pharaoh’s Mystic Society and the Conde Explorers back to back that evening. The Order of Polka Dots (Feb. 24) and Order of Inca (Feb. 25) led into a packed Saturday, Feb. 26, with four parades — Mobile Mystics at 2 p.m., then Maids of Mirth, Butterfly Maidens and the Krewe of Marry Mates stacking downtown from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 27 brought Neptune’s Daughters and Order of Isis; Monday, Feb. 28 added Mobile Mystical Ladies and Order of Venus; and Tuesday, March 1 closed out the month’s slate with the Order of LaShe.
The Final Week
Mystic Stripers rolled Thursday, March 3, and the Crewe of Columbus on Friday, March 4. Saturday, March 5 was the season’s biggest daytime stretch: the Floral Parade, Knights of Mobile and Order of Angels in succession around midday before the Mystics of Time rolled at 6 p.m. — the same evening as the coronation of Queen to King Felix III at the Mobile Convention Center.
Sunday, March 6 belonged to Joe Cain Day: the Arrival of King Elexis I at Government and Water streets at 2 p.m., the Joe Cain Parade at 2:30, Le Krewe de Bienville and Les Femmes Cassettes in the evening, and King Elexis’s coronation at the Mobile Civic Center at 8:15 p.m.
Monday, March 7 mixed tradition and neighborhood flavor — King Felix’s arrival, the King’s Parade and Floral Parade on Route A, and three Route D processions from the MLK Business and Civic Organization, Monday Mystics and Northside Merchants — before the Infant Mystics closed the night.
Fat Tuesday, March 8, ran from morning to night: Order of Athena at 10:30 a.m., Knights of Revelry, King Felix and the Comic Cowboys through midday, the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association parade on Route B at 2 p.m., and the Order of Myths closing the season on Route C at 6:30 p.m.