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29TH ANNUAL PHUNNY PHORTY PHELLOWS STREETCAR RIDE
Summary :
Heralding the arrival of Carnival.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 6
7 p.m.
Willow Street Car Barn (Willow St. @ Dublin St.). The Phunny Phorty Phellows (PPP) of yore, who first appeared on Fat Tuesday 1878, followed the Rex parade and were known for high jinks and mockery (motto: "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the best of men"). In 1981, 83 years after their predecessors' last parade, a new group of Phellows emerged to march in an arty satirical procession’the Krewe of Clones (which, in the late 1980s, morphed into the ribald Krewe du Vieux). The following year, the PPP became heralds of Carnival—riding a streetcar on Twelfth Night to announce that, lo and behold, the pre-Lenten season of phun and phrivolity had begun. Well-wishers begin gathering at around 6:30 p.m. At 7 p.m., there are toasts and revels as the boisterous sounds of the Storyville Stompers Brass Band, who go along for the ride, fill the air and the Phellows board the decorated Party Car. Representatives of the Krewe of O.A.K., whose offbeat processions and colorful idiosyncracies are woven into the cultural fabric of the Carrollton neighborhood, will be on hand to announce their 2010 royalty and salute the Phellows. Once on their merry way, the PPP sip champagne, pass king cake to select royalty, partake in phrolicsome dances and let fly the first beads of the Carnival season. On a more somber note, look for the riders to honor the memory of Harold Myers Jr., the dedicated Carnival aficionado behind the so-called Mysterious Maskers, who traditionally appear along the route with signs bearing humorous slogans and portentious pronouncements. Read New Orleans Magazine Editor Errol Laborde's tribute to Myers, who was killed in an auto accident last year. For a map of the Phunny Phorty Phellows parade route, click here.
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