Ten minutes before Evanston’s annual Mardi Gras parade was set to begin, Davis Street looked like it does on any other day.
Eight minutes before, no difference.
And then, at 4:54 p.m., just six minutes before the parade was supposed to start, out walked the members of Evanston Township High School’s marching band, pounding their drums and tooting their horns.
Then came the children, decked out in colorful costumes, dancing to the music and swinging rainbows of beads around their necks.
No one seemed to mind that the parade did not actually start until 5:47 p.m. Cooks walked out of nearby restaurants still wearing soiled white aprons, and cars honked.
Mardi Gras was here. For some, the effects of Hurricane Katrina gave the celebration new significance.
“The national disaster is no longer in the headlines,” said NBC5 News reporter Art Norman, who was a grand marshal of the parade along with Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton. “But the suffering and the pain is still there.”
In the spirit of celebration and in tribute to those who lost everything, Davis Street Fish Market, 501 Davis St., organized its eighth annual Mardi Gras parade around downtown. Leading the way in a limousine were Morton and Larry Huber, owner of the Fish Market and three other restaurants. Behind them was the band and about one hundred cheering and laughing celebrants.
Barbara Bader, 40, an Evanston realtor, heard the noise as she walked to Lulu’s, 804 Davis St., with her family. With her daughter in her arms, she bent down to pick up some beads.
“I think it’s fun,” she said. “If they can’t celebrate (in New Orleans), we can do the celebrating for them, right?”
The 20-minute parade started at Davis Street Fish Market and turned onto Sherman Avenue, Lake Street and Hinman Avenue before arriving back at the restaurant. Marchers also participated in a costume contest that awarded $600 in prizes.
Because of the restaurant’s connection to the South, it hosts Mardi Gras celebrations every year. It has events throughout next week, including a crawfish-eating contest, a gumbo-cooking contest and an oyster-shucking and -eating contest. Tuesday, it will have live music by the Midway Ramblers and will host another costume contest.
“We’re an occasion-themed restaurant; all our recipes come from the South, and New Orleans in particular,” Manager Kim Rowe said. “It’s just a fun thing to do. There are so many sad things going on in the news that it’s nice to celebrate and get together with your fellow man and enjoy life.”
In the wake of Katrina, Huber said it is still important to celebrate the holiday.
“They say why, I say why not,” he said. “The people of New Orleans look at this as a positive thing. If it weren’t for New Orleans, there would be no Mardi Gras.”
He’s not the only one who wants to celebrate.
“There’s trouble all over the world,” said 12-year-old Meaghan Culhane, a Skokie resident. “Some people say it can’t happen here. But it can. It has. They need our help. I think they should keep up the tradition.”
Reach Matt Presser at [email protected].
