Mobile Mardi Gras, 2009 Bands let it rip

I've saved the best for last: the multiple bands interspersed among the floats. The revelers aboard the floats seem to hail from a surreal, faraway world -- but the participants in the bands look more like your neighbors out for a much rehearsed good time. Let the good times roll!


There was a rock band -- very loud indeed.


The country genre boasted old men on a wagon -- "Old MacDonald" perhaps?

But the stars were the high school marching bands.




Often the moms trailed alongside.


Each high school showed its colors.




And the drum majorettes were strutting their stuff.


Hey kid, is that hat going to soar off without you?


There was plenty of joyful noise.

The marching bands, proud and amateur in the true sense of lovingly putting on their show, reminded me of the weekly parade in Cusco, Peru.