Canceling both the Lul and Des Allemands parades wasn’t popular with the public, but both krewes stand by the decision, citing safety as their main concern for the move.
“No one wants to cancel it, but it comes where you’ve got to make a decision that’s best for all involved – not just the riders on the floats or the bands,” said Lul Captain Debbie Vial. “We’ve paraded in showers before, but the reports we were getting was there would be gusts and potential for lightning and heavy rain.”
Des Allemands spokeswoman Mitzi Tregle agreed.
“It was a very difficult decision to cancel, but we’d been watching the weather all week and then met with parish officials involved with the parade,” Tregle said. “We reviewed our safety issues and the weather was a big concern.”
In the past, she said their parade rolled in hail, but today’s requirements have changed.
Vial and Tregle say it’s gotten much more complicated to hold a parade with such concerns as needing insurance that requires a specified date, the logistics of parish workers showing up hours earlier to place barricades, floats lining up before the parade for judging and putting thousands of people on the roadside in a potential downpour with lightning.
“We have to look at all angles of what’s best for the parade, as well as everyone involved with it,” Tregle said.
She added they were so concerned about the risk that they agreed it was better to cancel the parade rather than end up in a predicted downpour with heavy wind and even lightning. The parade had started shrinking as units and floats pulled out of the lineup due to weather.
According to Vial, “We made the best decision we could with the information we had. It’s not like we could have it on Sunday … that’s when Des Allemands holds its parade.”
As for rescheduling, Vial said that this year’s early Mardi Gras left no realistic date for that move. She also said with the two parades being unique to their community, combining them wouldn’t have worked.
“With us parading the Saturday before Mardi Gras there really wasn’t enough another time we could hold the parade,” Vial said. “It was a do or die thing.”
They also both say they made the best decision with the information they had at the time, which resulted from meetings with parish officials, including the EOC, Sheriff’s Office and fire departments, as well as their krewe captains and royalty. Lul cancelled on Friday and Des Allemands followed on Saturday.
When Lul rolled in 2013, it came with the “third time is a charm” hope by King and Queen Bill and Edie Sirmon when weather forced cancelling the parade two years consecutively. The first year, the tornado sirens went off on the day of the parade and the next year stormy weather caused the canceling of that parade.
For Des Allemands, Tregle said the cancellation was a first in the 24 years the community took over the parade.
Tregle said they didn’t have a contingency or rainy day plan in place because they hadn’t needed one before, but they are going to discuss one. Vial said, with all the requirements that come with a parade, she isn’t sure one is possible.
“We know we disappointed a lot of people and got some nasty comments we had to endure. It sucks to be the bad guy,” Tregle said. “But next year, we’ll be back – it’s all we can do.”
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