Adventure from the Past: Soulard Mardi Gras, 2003

It was Mardi Gras in St. Louis, Soulard district, mid February. The usual suspects were involved: Myself, Dan, and the Ill-Side crowd. The only additions to our regular group were Dan’s brother, and Trutman’s sister. Their names are omitted to protect the innocent, although I certainly don’t remember meeting any “innocent” people at Soulard Mardi Gras.

My instructions from Dan were relatively simple. Wake up in the morning, and make my way towards Soulard. I would be contacted by cell-phone sometime in the morning. I showed up in Soulard at a pretty respectable time, and decided to start my own party right away. I bought a beer from a local vendor at about 9:15am.

It was snowy and cold out, as you can tell from the pictures. That didn’t stop people from losing their minds.
Cell phone contact was initiated at about 9:20, and I was given an address to go to. It wasn’t that far away, and by 9:30 I was seen approaching the rendezvous point.
The group assembled, and after a short walk we entered somebody’s apartment. I didn’t know the owners, but I think they may have been related to Trutman in some form or another. Regardless, we jammed into the place and took advantage of whatever booze and food we could find. There were already about 20 people partying in this house, so we were barely noticed. Heavy drinking commenced about 10:00.
We hung out at this house until just before 11:30. At this time, we decided it was time to go join the madness down near the official area designated for Mardi Gras.
We arrived at the parade route and merged with the wild crowd. Mr. Jim can be seen above, hoisting Trutman’s sister onto his shoulders to aid in her view of the parade. What a noble gesture it was,…
One might think that we had no access to booze at this point. Not the case. Dan’s brother kept a steady flow of some brown poison flowing into our cups. I don’t remember where all the other booze came from, but I do know that there was no shortage.

The parade was winding down at this point, so we started to wander the insane streets to look for trouble and restrooms. This must have happened around 1pm, as I can be seen above escorting our young lady friend down the street away from the parade.

Some time immediately after this, I met my friend Mary wandering the streets of Soulard. I waved goodbye to my friends as I left to hang out with Mary.
I cannot write with any accuracy about what happened to Dan and crowd at that point, so I will leave that part alone. What I do know is that sometime later that afternoon, Dan’s brother finally decided to “pull the trigger”. It is grotesque to be sure, but I decided to show the picture anyway, as a tribute to Dan’s fine photography skills. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

So there is your whirlwind virtual tour of the Soulard Mardi Gras. What cannot be accurately conveyed with these pictures or text, is the absolute insanity of this entire event. It has to be experienced to be understood. Make no mistake, if attend this event you will see some of the most vile, attrocious, nastiest acts ever performed by human being. It is RADICAL to watch!