The Parade

"Now in the 21st Century you either come to New Orleans for Mardi Gras or witness on the many news outlets the greatest free show on earth. Super Krewe floats that light up the night, Super Krewe members throwing thousands of dollars of beads, marching groups and bands from all over the country and world, parade route security, massive crowd control, and on and on. No one who is on the outside has any idea what it takes to produce such a large undertaking. It was not always like that- the production of Mardi Gras has evolved over many years with the last 30 or so sky rocketing with new super crew organizations and technology.This is my story as a ten year old, about a Parade in the late 50’s early 60’s that is what makes legends. It is about the Westbank Communities of the Mississippi River across from New Orleans. These communities wanted to start their own Mardis Gras Parade. Follow along reading this part fiction-narrative-memoire as I recount my yearlong recollection of how my best friend and Uncle, George, made a Parade called the “Poseidon” happen for an 8.5 mile stretch of connected communities; along with giving me lifelong memories."

Born, raised and lifelong resident of Southeast Louisiana, Rock Le Compte parlayed his speech writing abilities into a memoire detailing one year of life experiences with family, south Louisiana history and culture and the beginning of a brand new Mardi Gras Parade. Captured in this novel are the humorous difficulties in getting such a large undertaking off the ground, dealings with his unconventional New Orleans area rooted family, the community and then finally seeing it all come together in parading and creating the one and only Poseidon Parade.