Mardi Gras: Crowning glories

The festival queens sit onstage above the ball's King and Queen (this year a father-daughter duo), and add glamour to the scene, while enjoying festivities themselves. Shown here are Strawberry, Rice, Crawfish, Troubadour, and Yam queens, with the Troubadour queen in a hoop skirt so big she had to sit over her chair instead of on it.

Mardi Gras: Hail to the Queens, Part I

The final dignataries presented are the festival queens, who glide through the ballroom led by krewe members carrying signs proclaiming each girl's name and festival. I was unable to get good shots of all the queens (and I sincerely apologize to those not pictured), but they all deported themselves well at the ball, earning applause from the crowds. Seen here: Strawberry Queen Jeni, Rice Queen Devin, Crawfish Queen Nonnie, Troubadours Queen Elizabeth, Yambilee Queen Meghin, and French Food Queen Kayla

"A Yam Good Time"

That's one of Yambilee's slogans and it delivered. As the Yam King and Queen headed off into their reign, I headed back to Boston. Thank you, Opelousas.

Dress for Less?

Not this particular crew, obviously.

A warmer welcome

Some years, the visiting queens have not been well-received by the crowd at Yambilee, but this year their reception was very positive, in part thanks to the presence of Miss Acadiana, an Opelousas native and the lone woman of color on the float.

Smile and wave

The Visiting Queens, surrounded by yam crates and sweet potato sacks, rolled down West Landry to Main Street in Opelousas, waving to crowds and enduring hollered requests for them to throw something—anything!—but also enjoyed shouts of thanks for coming to Opelousas to celebrate.

Halloween came early

Along the route, children brought their candy buckets to fill with goodies thrown from the floats. Note the disbelief of the boy at the far right when he realizes the Visiting Queens have no candy--it's like the universe simply doesn't make sense.

Sweet/Tart

Chelsea Troxler, the Sugar Queen, knows her industry cold, letting fly with facts and figures (the Sugar industry brings Louisiana 1.7 billions dollars a year), and pointing out that no matter which carbonated beverage you pull out of the cooler, you’re getting high fructose corn syrup or a chemical sweetener and not sugar--and she's happy to call you on it!

Team Spirit

The Celtic Nations, Spice, and St. Charles queens boarded a float for the Grand Louisiyam Parade and, while waiting in the hot sun for the parade to start, shared their thoughts about the Rhinestone Sisterhood that they are a part of and how a title begins to shape a queen's identity, for at least that year. St. Charles Parish Queen Aimee (right) says that she found herself suddenly obsessed with crowns and now sees them everywhere. Celtic Nations Queen Winter (left) finds herself constantly looking for green and gold items, while Spice Queen Mariah (center) says in her life it’s now “everything peppers all the time."

12 years in the making

Before the parade kicked off, 17 year-old Nonnie Berard (among the youngest queens in the festival system) told me that she ran for Crawfish Queen as soon as she was eligible because it is just about the greatest honor a young girl can have in her hometown of Breaux Bridge. At age 5, she decided she would someday be the queen and she won on her first try. She has no intention of running for any other title because, “I’ve seen girls who compete every weekend for a new title, but I couldn’t do that. I can’t imagine going for a title I didn’t grow up dreaming of. Once I’ve been Crawfish, I’ve lived the dream—why take some other local girl’s dream from her? I wouldn’t feel right.”

Just a closer walk--and dance

Among the troupes readying for the parade were the PJ’s Dance Studio "Praise Dancers for God." Based in Lafayette, they ranged in age from 3 years old to 16. The oldest dancer, Jasmine Evans (back row center) has been with the troupe for 10 years, including three times dancing at Yambilee. When asked to name their favorite festival, it was a tie between Yambilee and Rice, but they all agree that what they love about both parades is how many more people get to see their hard work.

Shop local

Billy’s and Ray’s, just off the start of the parade route, does a hopping business on Yambilee day, with fresh cracklins and boudin being made and served as fast as the three women at the stove can keep up. I couldn't resist another try at cracklins, but, somewhat illogically, got a Diet Coke to go with my deep-fried pork skin.

All creatures great and small

At the Yambilee carnival, something large kept hitting my head or back or neck and then disappearing. Eventually, a local fairgoer noticed that I was approaching a kind of madness trying to figure out what was going on and he kindly pointed out the culprits: flying grasshoppers the length of your index finger (bottom photo). I was a little less freaked out by the other beast (see top) that caught my attention: Louisiana alligator, served—as are all things at a fair--on a stick. (And yes, it does taste like chicken, only, um, chewy. Really chewy.)

Voices from the Midway

Curley Richard, 12 (the taller of the two boys in the photo bottom left), and his brother Jeremy Carroll, 11, were born and raised in Opelousas, and come to Yambilee every year. They like the parade best and the carnival second best. Curley explained, “It’s the place to talk to girls. I like girls.” Joe Miller, 74 (bottom right), is the retired owner of a carnival company and he likes to check out other carnivals in his free time; he prefers the Delcambre Shrimp and Erath 4th of July festivals to Yambilee, but this festival was still a homecoming: he was excited to visit with Yambilee King Lloyd Price, with whom Joe had served in the Army and hadn’t seen in the half century since.

Red state, blue state, green state

You can buy Freedom Fries or win Che Guevara in a midway game. Whatever your politics, at the carnival, someone will be glad to help you part with your cash .

The Waltons would blush

What you don’t expect in small town America is this: the Ya Ya’s. This self-styled group of Sweet Potato Queens, including a drag queen, not only attended all the Yambilee events but were introduced from the stage of the carnival midway and also rode in the parade. (My regrets to the three more Ya Ya's not pictured, including the twin of the one in pink.)

You can be Queen Mother without a Hat and Gloves

Forget what you hear about Pageant Mothers—most of the festival moms are ordinary, hardworking parents, who support their daughters in their volunteerism but don’t push them into the spotlight. The shallow, pageant-obsessed mothers (seen in movies and on TV) are the exception, not the rule, and when you do meet them in this context, they stand out pretty nakedly with their emphasis on shoes and clothes and the perks of travel. In contrast, the new Yambilee Queen’s mom seen here talked excitedly about her daughter’s community work in past titles such as Forest Queen and Swamp Pop Queen.

Progress and Pride

In a town where racial tension has often simmered near the surface, the selection of this year’s Yam King, Lloyd Price, was a big moment: the R&B artist and now sweet-potato product entrepreneur is the first African-American Yambilee King in the 63 years of the festival’s history. Among his most famous songs, Price penned “Personality,” which might well describe the attributes of the young woman on his arm, 19 year-old Meghin Frazier, the new Yambilee Queen.

Walk, personality

Talk, Personality

Smile, Personality

Charm, personality...

Try this on for size

The official regalia often outpaces the wearer. Frog Queen Chelsea, at 5’1 and under 100 lbs, is faced with the task of walking in an enormous mantle followed by a ten-foot-long train that has a heavy velvet layer on top. Her first attempt to walk in the outfit (at the Rice Ball) involved the train getting wrapped around the honor guard, but this time, at Yambilee, everything went smoothly. Queen Kristen of Cattle was not so lucky—her train snagged onstage as she exited and the stagehand equivalent of a lady-in-waiting had to free her. The process is made harder because festival norm is to wear clear shoes with enormous heels (which, as one queen noted, are easiest to find in a place catering to slightly different clientele).

Grunge Factor

There’s a lot of hurry up and wait in festival queen life and little of it is glamorous. Note the chicken wire and plywood, upon which a mirror has thoughtfully been fixed for them as they wait in a tiny room to play their parts in the evening's pageantry. The worlds they travel in are largely agricultural and industrial--they bring the sparkle themselves.