Before the parade: Line-Up Instructions
- PICK UP YOUR WRIST BAND IN ADVANCE AT THE NEW YEAR’S WORK PARTY, PARADE WEEK WORKSHOPS AT CAPTAIN AMANDA’S HOUSE, OR THE BANQUET. Pick up in advance to avoid the line on parade day!
- The purpose of the wrist bands is to prevent people who aren’t members from parading, so BE SURE TO WEAR YOURS. If you already have your wrist band, WEAR IT, you can skip the check-in desk. If you need to pick up your wrist band, go to check-in desk.
- Arrive at THE NEW STARTING POINT at 90 French Market Place (the French Market vendor parking lot. We recommend parking in Premium Parking Lot #407 entrance near 698 Decatur Street, map) by 6:45 p.m.
- Go straight to your place in the line-up. As a full member, choose a parade section and costume that make sense together. In general,
- Domrémy battalion is mostly children and our school partners;
- clergy, monks and nuns can go in Voices;
- knights, archers and soldiers can go with Knights
- general medieval dress can go in Orléans or Restoration;
- medieval flame costumes can accompany our Flaming Heretic;
- special characters related to the trial can accompany Skinz-n-Bonez in the Trial battalion;
- Modern and historical people inspired by Joan after her death can go in the Legacy Battalion
- More help to decide where to go.
- Park in Premium Parking Lot #407 (map, entrance near 698 Decatur), carpool is encouraged. Reserve a parking space.
- Arrive in costume ready to parade. There is nowhere to store anything at the line-up or to change clothes. (Here’s our costume guide)
- Don’t ruin your costume! No modern coats, purses or bags on top your costume.
- Hold off on the drinking until after the parade.
Your job during the parade
- We are all performers. Help us create a spectacular experience for our crowd!
- It’s easy to get distracted while you’re handing out throws. Foot soldiers have been instructed to gently shepherd full members to keep pace with their section. So if people on the parade marshal team or volunteers ask you to move along and keep up with your section, do what they say!
- Once the parade starts, keep your cell phone or camera put away
- If you see someone you think does not belong in your parade section, feel free to ask them who they are and to show their wrist band.
- We have 60 new members this year. Please introduce yourself to the other people in your section!
Where do I go in the line-up?
Full members get to choose where to be, and most of you already know. In general…
- View the line-up here, and check out more detailed explanations in the Characters Wanted Guide.
- If your costume is a medieval person, you can choose to play a citizen of the town of Orléans, France, just liberated by Joan from the English seige. Find the giant castle wall (the Gates of Orléans) and get behind it.
- If your costume is a knight, go to the Knights battalion (in front of the wall).
- If your costume is a monk, nun or clergy, go to the Voices battalion with the giant St. Catherine wheel, St. Michael cloud and St. Margaret’s dragon.
- If your costume is a medieval person, you could also choose to imagine you are one of the hundreds of people who testified at the post-humous re-trial when Joan was declared innocent. Head for the Restoration battalion with the giant Notre Dame cathedral prop.
- Especially for children, if your costume is a medieval peasant, you can go in the Domrémy battalion at the front, representing Joan’s childhood.
Parade end and after
- The parade ends around 9:45 p.m. back at the starting point in the French Market vendor parking lot (90 French Market Place, map)
- NEW THIS YEAR: the parade will NOT end at the king cake ceremony at Oscar Dunn Park (the sidewalk amphitheater across from Jackson Square, formerly called Washington Artillery Park).
- The king cake ceremony will take place at Oscar Dunn park, but we will treat this the same way as the other stops. The front of the parade will continue right past Oscar Dunn park heading back toward the statue. When the king, queen, and Maid arrive at Oscar Dunn park, the parade marshal team will stop the front of the parade. The rest of the parade will remain in formation during the ceremony. Everyone will pause in place while the ceremony is going on, and everyone is encouraged to do something theatrical or interact with the crowd wherever you find yourself while the parade is paused for a ceremony.
- Following the ceremony, the parade will continue in formation back to the starting point in the French Market vendor parking lot at 90 French Market Place, where the props truck will be waiting for us.
- FULL MEMBERS WEARING OFFICIAL KREWE-OWNED COSTUMES SHOULD NOT RETURN YOUR COSTUME TO THE TRUCK. Foot soldier volunteers return their costumes to the truck en masse, but Full members with loaned special costumes should make arrangements sometime in January at your mutual convenience to return your costume back to the captain you got it from.