I visited a huge warehouse where many of the Mardi Gras floats are made for the parades each year. The business has been handed down in a family and they make a lot of floats. But even with so many in this warehouse, I learned that they only make 1/3 of the floats for the parades. That means 2/3 are made other places. But the 2/3 isn’t made in one place, so this one still makes a lot. They make heavier pieces but for the floats, they carve styrofoam, which is very light and then, since that is not nice to paint since the paint won’t really be colorful, papier-mâché is added and then that gets painted. The floats are pulled by tractors but the tractor wheels aren’t filled with air, they are solid rubber so they don’t pop on a parade route!!! Mardi Gras parades go on for many days and are very popular here in this city.
