Some point to 1699 as year the first American Mardi Gras was held, when French explorers Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and Sieur de Bienville landed about 60 miles south of present-day New Orleans Since 1984 The Wild Bohemians Mardi Gras band has led celebrations in Philadelphia. Most notable is a Mardi Gras Parade held on a Sunday before Mardi Gras. The band consists of Philadelphia's top musicians who come together once a year for this colorful celebration of music, beads, dancing, drinking, and general merriment. History of Mardi Gras In 1703, Mobile, Alabama was the first city recorded to have the oldest organized Mardi Gras in the U.S., according to Curious Cuisiniere. "The first documented celebration of modern-day carnival, what people think of as carnival in the United States is historically without a doubt began in Mobile. They say the first Mardi Gras celebration in America took place in 1703, when a group of French soldiers held an impromptu celebration in the settlement of Mobile. Their proof is in the fact that, not more than a year later, Frenchmen Nicholas Langlois established a Carnival organization called the Societe de Saint Louis which held their masked The first Mardi Gras was held in Alabama, not Louisiana. Visit Louisiana during Carnival season and you’ll get caught up in a celebration that’s been part of the city’s history since the 1700s, but that doesn’t include the very first Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. The Alabama city celebrated America's first Mardi Gras in 1703. The holiday was later celebrated in New Orleans after the city was established in 1718. Daylight saving time 2025: These states Over the next hundred years, the holiday became increasingly popular in New Orleans, and in 1781, the first formal Mardi Gras parade was held. While Mardi Gras was originally a holiday celebrated by the city’s white Creole population, over time it has become a more inclusive celebration. In 1857, six African American men formed the first Realizing it was the Eve of Mardi Gras, they held a celebration and named the spot Point du Mardi Gras. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile (Mobile, Alabama) celebrated North America’s very first organized Mardi Gras. New Orleans was established in 1718 and by 1730 Mardi Gras was openly celebrated in the city. 1703 - The first Mardi Gras celebration is held in Mobile, Alabama. 1837 - First recorded Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. 1857 - First time floats appear in New Orleans parades. 1896 - The first Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, which takes place March 4, marks the party’s climax and the end of Carnival Season on the Gulf Coast. The conclusion falls the day before Ash Wednesday and is seen as a final day of feasting and revelry before the solemnity of Lent. When was the first Mardi Gras in the U.S. celebrated? The first recorded Mardi Gras celebration in the United States took place in 1699 when French explorers Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville arrived in present-day Louisiana. Mardi Gras Trivia Questions And Answers Mardi Gras throws are strings of beads, doubloons, cups, or other trinkets passed out or thrown from the floats in the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the Mobile Mardi Gras and parades all throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States, to spectators lining the streets. The "throws" consist of necklaces of plastic beads, coins called doubloons, which On the night of February 24, 1857, under gaslit torches in New Orleans's warehouse district, a Mardi Gras tradition was born. At the intersection of Julia and Magazine Streets, the Mistick Krewe The Mardi Gras parade started in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mardi Gras is a French term meaning “Fat Tuesday”, which is the day before Ash Wednesday. The first Mardi Gras parade was held in New Orleans in 1837. Mardi Gras is now a worldwide event, with parades and celebrations held in cities around the world. The origins of Mardi Gras in the United States can be traced back to medieval celebrations in Venice and Rome, as well as to the French House of the Bourbons, which held lavish celebrations. Those spread to the colonies and soon to southern settlements, including the Fort Louis de la Mobile, which was founded in 1703 and later became the city The first Mardi Gras was held on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1699, when Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and Sieur de Bienville arrived in the New World, heralding the start of the festive season in the United States. The first Mardi Gras celebration in America was celebrated in 1703 in the settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile. Mardi Gras was celebrated soon after the city of New Orleans was founded in 1718 In 1873 Rex held his second parade and his first grand ball; by 1874 he arrived by steamer on the day before Mardi Gras. 1882 was the first meeting of Rex and Comus, when Rex came to greet Comus The first recorded Mardi Gras celebration in the United States took place in what is now Mobile, Alabama, in 1703. French settlers brought their customs with them, including the tradition of celebrating Mardi Gras. This early celebration was a simple affair, with a small parade and a communal feast. In the early 19th Century, the public celebration of Mardi Gras consisted mainly of maskers on foot, in carriages and on horseback. In 1837, a costumed group of revelers walked in the first documented “parade,” but the violent behavior of maskers during the next two decades caused the press to call for an end to Mardi Gras.
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |