There are Mardi Gras parties and then there is the Louisiana Club of The Villages Mardi Gras party.
Seeing over 400 Louisianans with Mardi Gras in their DNA rise up as soon as they heard the beginning of the music for the Second Line dance, you knew you were watching the real thing. Something about the way they moved as they participated in a conga dance that snaked all around the dining room had an authenticity to it derived from a lifetime of Mardi Gras celebrations. People waved umbrellas, napkins and some just their arms. The sixth annual Mardi Gras Ball held at the Savannah Center on Monday night was real Louisiana all the way. Even the King cakes on every table came from Rouses’s Market in Thibodaux, La.
The atmosphere had a real party feel. People ran the gambit on what they wore.
Mary and Roland Caillouet who drove the freshly baked King cakes from Thibodaux to the event also provided costumes for a group of friends from Hacienda South that had been used in a previous Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.
The Caillouets visit their good friends Jeri and Richard Calais a couple of times a year in The Villages. They have come to all six of the Mardi Gras Balls bringing the King cakes each time.
“This event has really grown,” said Roland. “I know because the first time I brought 19 cakes and this year Mary and I drove down with 54 cakes.”
Louisiana Club friends Gale Fraites and Margie Naquin were inspired to design and make their own purple, green and gold costumes.
“It took us about three weeks to make,” said Fraites. “I am sure we will do something different next year,” said Naquin, “I love designing the costumes.”
The three gentlemen with the most extreme costumes of the evening were introduced on the dance floor.
Bill LaCasse, David Bradley and Daryl Burrow wowed the crowd dressed as burlesque dancers. Using stage names, Rea – ready, eager and available and Candy, their moves and poses set the tone or the evening.
Merlin Decuir and Diana Tatum were introduced as this year’s king and queen of the Mardi Gras Ball. They will be presiding over the upcoming Mardi Gras Parades. The honor goes to someone who has been in service to the club. Decuir figures he was being thanked for his cooking contribution to the club.
“I brought a gumbo to a club event and people said that is a damn good gumbo,” said Decuir. “I have pretty much been the chief cook ever since. I started the Fish Fry and I fry the turkeys for our Thanksgiving dinner.”
Louisiana native Clark Barrios and his band provided the music. They started off the entertainment for the evening with the Second Dance followed immediately by Jambalaya (on the Bayou). The dance floor was packed.
