House Floats and History in the Making

The Krewe of House Floats (KoHF), founded by Megan Boudreaux, has given people across New Orleans a reason to “get up amusements” in the midst of the worst pandemic to hit the United States in 100 years. According to Doug MacCash of Opens in new tabNOLA.com, Boudreaux started the organization with a Facebook group, hoping her Algiers Point neighbors would join her in festooning their homes.

Several thousand followers and dozens of “sub-krewes” later, Boudreaux’s idea incited a local phenomenon that’s making national headlines. Since the launch of the Facebook group in November 2020, hundreds of displays—ranging from homemade to professionally installed—have popped up in the city and in as far-flung places as Alaska, Australia, and Abu Dhabi, according the official KoHF map.

This is not the first year we’ve encountered a Carnival without parades. HNOC’s Emily Perkins and Katherine Dunn pointed out in a recent storyOpens in new tab that it’s happened 14 times in the past. The Spanish flu pandemic caused the last disease-related cancellations: parades and balls were scaled back in 1919 to avoid transmission of the deadly virus. The result was a series of impromptu parades and walking groups that took to the streets to celebrate in the absence of a singular spectacle.

In a story that rings true today, the Times-Picayune professed: “Orleanians who mourn the passing of Carnival need not mourn the coming of Mardi Gras Day with melancholy this year, for if they feel a need for celebration, they are at liberty to start one of their own.” 

The proliferation of house floats this year is arguably the result of forces that were already at play in the evolution of Carnival celebrations. HNOC’s Lydia Blackmore is currently researching the topic of Mardi Gras artistry for an exhibition scheduled to open in January 2022. She sees the house floats as a continuation of changes that have been taking place since Hurricane Katrina. 

“Katrina disrupted the New Orleans social structure so much, with the loss of population and then influx of non-natives,” said Blackmore. “This led to people creating their own ways to celebrate Mardi Gras. Dance groups, walking krewes, and other organizations opened membership and participation to anyone with the time, money, and energy to participate. The 2020 pandemic, another major disaster, opened up one more level of accessibility, allowing anyone to participate without leaving their homes or neighborhoods. These disasters served both to disrupt New Orleans culture and to bring the city together as a community.” 

Blackmore also notes that the widespread decoration of house floats returns Mardi Gras festivities to a more neighborhood-centric experience, reversing a decades-old trend to consolidate organized parades along a few well-defined routes. 

To document this historic Carnival innovation as it unfolds, HNOC photographers Keely Merritt and Melissa Carrier have traversed New Orleans to capture house floats based on the map provided by the KoHF. These are 14 of their favorites.