Sarah and Billy Thigpen have been longtime participants in the Krewe of Lul parade.
Their float – the Becnel Bunch Krewe – has been rolling since 1994, when Sarah and her siblings borrowed a stagecoach and joined the parade. That year, Sarah’s parents joined them on the float, and it became a special memory for the family.
“They just loved it,” Sarah said. “After that my mom got sick and they were never able to ride after that.”
The Becnel family has always watched the parade from their family home on Collier Drive, in the middle of the parade route. Sarah said the family was inspired to join the parade in their hometown. In 1997, the Becnel Krewe built their own float.
Sarah and Billy said it was an honor to be named king and queen of the parade for the 2026 season.
“It’s a great privilege,” Billy said.
Sarah and Billy have been married for 42 years. They share two sons, Blaine Thigpen and Wesley Thigpen, and they have four grandchildren.
Sarah graduated from LSU with a degree in chemical engineering and worked for 33 years for Union Carbide Corporation and Dow Chemical. Billy, who joined the U.S. Navy in 1971, was in the Nuclear Submarine Program until 1979. He moved to the parish in 1981 and worked in nuclear power plant construction. In 1984, he joined Entergy in mechanical maintenance at Waterford III.
St. Charles Parish was a special place to work and raise their kids, they said.
“It’s great,” Billy said. “One of the best public-school systems, sports programs, parks and recreation and we worked just 13 miles from our home.”
Sarah is a lifelong Luling resident.
“We’ve got plenty of friends that we’ve either worked with or our kids grew up with them,” Sarah said. “It’s just home. You go to the store, you see somebody you know.”
Now retired, Billy and Sarah enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren and visiting their vacation home in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
The Krewe of Lul will be a family affair for the couple. Their sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren will join them on the king and queen float. Sarah’s brother and sister-in-law are flying in from Tulsa, Oklahoma for the occasion. Sarah’s great nieces, who are also traveling to town for the event, will experience Mardi Gras for the first time.
“We’re looking forward to all of us being together, being with friends and family and seeing everyone we know on the route,” Sarah said.
Sarah and Billy will throw purple, green and gold cups and koozies. They designed a unique scroll with images that signify important moments and things in their lives, including the Luling Bridge, LSU, Dow Chemical, a nuclear submarine, Georgia (where Billy is from) and Gulf Shores.
