New Orleans ramps up the fun in the days leading up to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).  On the Thursday night before the "big day" three parades roll through Uptown New Orleans. The three different crews combined have nearly 2000 riders and dozens of truly creative floats.

Knights of Babylon

According to its website, this krewe has been around since 1939.  The parade theme for 2018 was "Enchantments and Transformation."  The "royal" members of the krewe lead the parade, seated on traditional draped floats with bright colors.  They are followed by signature floats like the Carrolton Streetcar and the Babylonian Barge.

Knights of Chaos

The second parade of Thursday night is put on by a krewe founded back in 2000.  This year's theme was "Nature Calls Chaos" and the parade featured several satirical floats, much like the Krewe of D'Etat parade that rolls on Friday night. 

Krewe of Muses

Since its founding in 2001, this all-female krewe has managed to capture the attention of tens of thousands of people with their high heel shoes.  No, they aren't coming down the street in the shoes, but instead "throw" outrageously decorated high heeled shoes and plenty of other high heeled shoe themed items.  This year, the 1500 member krewe combined the work of different artists with pop culture for some pretty cool floats including "Death Starry Night" at tribute to Van Gogh and Star Wars.  The honorary Muse of 2018 was Latoya Cantrell, the mayor elect of New Orleans. She rolled down the parade route in a 17 foot tall fiber optic high heeled shoe.