Asheville Mardi Gras Parade moves to South Slope

Press release from Asheville Mardi Gras:

ASHEVILLE — For the first time in 11 years, Asheville Mardi Gras Parade participants will be strutting along a new path in Asheville’s South Slope neighborhood, where the local businesses have been extremely welcoming. Asheville residents have no doubt come to look forward to the electrifying blasts of costumes, music and revelry that fill the streets of downtown every year as the Mardi Gras parade gets underway. This year, all that enthusiastic creativity will still bring sound and color to the depths of winter, but it will do so in a new home — the city’s South Slope, the area of town bordered by Patton Ave in the north, Southside in the south, Asheland on the west and Biltmore on the east. This is the 11th year the parade will take to the streets.

“We are pumped to finally merge Asheville’s Mardi Gras parade and our annual celebration of food, music and creative beer,” said Doug Reiser, owner of Burial Beer Co. “It’s going to be great to see the energy come together on the South Slope.”

The parade got its new home because the Fed Cup tennis competition will be held at the US Cellular Center on the same Sunday as the parade — Feb. 11 — and it was deemed that two major events in downtown at once would bring too much congestion.

While it was a scheduling tangle that caused the parade to relocate, both the South Slope businesses and the members of Asheville Mardi Gras couldn’t be happier about the new route.

“We’re delighted that the businesses of South Slope have been so welcoming to Asheville Mardi Gras,” said parade committee member Sharon Bowlin. “They’re excited to have the energy and attention that the Mardi Gras parade delivers, and we’re excited about the freshness the new route will inject into the parade.”

Post-parade parties

As evidence of the new support, many businesses in the area will be hosting parties or offering specials to parade participants.

• Ben’s Tune Up will be offering $3 beer specials all day.
• Catawba Brewing’s food truck, Food Stop, will be serving New Orleans-inspired food and the Gravyhouse Storytellers will be playing music from 5-8 PM
• Burial Beer will be unveiling a special brew for the day called “A Glimpse of Paradise,” which they describe as a “bananas foster bourbon barrel aged tripel.”
• In-house restaurant Salt and Smoke will do a Creole brunch from 12-3, followed by a New Orleans-inspired menu from 5-8 (including a shrimp po boy). The bar, Banks Ave, will also be joining in the fun as it will be hosting an after-party with the King and Queen of Mardi Gras along with their krewe — Krewe La La — featuring Mardi Gras drink specials, a full liquor bar, DJ and pop-up food by chef Mark Schmitt starting at 1 p.m.

New year, new royals

Speaking of the Mardi Gras King and Queen, the new royals were crowned this year at Asheville Mardi Gras’ annual Twelfth Night celebration. Jacqueline Hammond (Queen Jax), found a small plastic baby in a slice of “king’s cake,” which instantly identified her as the queen for the 2018 season. She then chose Thomas Hilts as her king and the two have been reigning over events ever since. They made their public debut at the group’s Cajun Cook Off fundraiser, held on Jan. 21 at the Salvage Station, which brought in over 200 pounds of food for MANNA Food Bank and brought attention to local chefs at both the professional and amateur levels.

“I’ve been on the AMG executive committee for going on four years,” said Hammond. “From the start, the community embraced me and took me into the fold. Asheville Mardi Gras celebrates all the amazing things about being local including the artists, musicians, performers, small businesses and bar scene.

“The honor of serving as Queen ties me to a lineage of tradition in AMG. Each royal sets the tone for the season. My hope is for Thomas and I to represent the renewal of Asheville Mardi Gras and our further expansion into new scenes, for example the brewery community! Not to mention that Thomas and I have fun and laugh! That’s what this is all about!”

Queen’s Ball

After the parade, the revelry will continue at parties along the South Slope and then everyone is invited to head over to Club 11 on Grove for the Queen’s Ball for two floors of music, entertainment and general cutting lose. This year’s ball will feature live music downstairs from cajun band Bayou Diesel and funk outfit Ryan Barber Band with guest Mike Barnes. Music in the upstairs club will be provided by Asheville’s DJ Chilligan and will feature a mix of downtempo, electro swing and global beats. The party is free and cash bars will be open on both levels. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the party runs from 7-11. The Sunday night drag show at Scandals (the downstairs club) will still take place at 12:30 a.m.

Theme: AsheVillage People

Each year, the executive committee holds a meeting in the fall to choose the theme of the coming year’s parade. The committee felt that 2017 had been a particularly divisive one, in light of all the vitriol and rhetoric surrounding the election. So it decided to show that Asheville can rise above such squabbles by choosing a theme of inclusiveness and cooperation — AsheVillage People.

Parade route

Parade participants will line up along Federal Alley from between 1-2 p.m. on Feb. 11. The parade will then step off at its traditional time of 3:05 p.m. and head east on Hilliard Avenue before turning south on Coxe Avenue. The parade will then continue east on Banks Avenue, turn briefly south on Church Street, then west on Buxton Avenue before returning south on Coxe and finishing up at the corner of Coxe and Milliard avenues.

Road closures

Roads in the area will be closed at noon on Feb. 11 at the following points: Hiliard, between Asheland and Coxe; Coxe, between Hilliard and Millard; Buxton, between Millard and Coxe; Banks, between Church and Coxe; and Federal Alley. Drivers going to private parking lots which they are permitted to use along with local business owners, floats and residents will be allowed into the parade route until the parade begins. No cars will be permitted to leave until after the parade concludes, around 5 p.m. All cars should be removed from road closure zone before noon on the day of the parade, or else they will not be able to leave until the parade’s conclusion.

Parking

Parking is permitted on city streets in areas not included in road-closure zones where normally allowed by the city. Additionally, free parking is available at McCormick Field, who has asked that no costuming or float decorating take place on the premises.

Krewes

Anyone is welcome to join in the parade as a spectator or a krewe. There are plenty of krewes accepting new members, or new krewes are welcome to join. All krewe information can be found on the AMG website: ashevillemardigras.org.

Volunteers

Volunteers are needed by AMG to help man the road closure barricades, to keep the crowd safe and to keep a host of costumed buffoons generally moving in the right direction. Volunteers can sign up on our website.

Uber/Lyft

Suggested Uber/Lyft drop off points are at Asheland and Hilliard as well as on Short Coxe Avenue between Southside and Biltmore avenues.

About Asheville Mardis Gras

Asheville Mardi Gras is a social aid and pleasure club as well as an arts and culture group. Our purpose is to strengthen Western North Carolina’s community connections through promoting creativity, frivolity and celebration, based on the traditions of Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler!