Summer '09 :: Life of the Party

For the 2009 ball, Rex maids carried tussie mussies of peonies and wax flowers.

For almost 140 years, Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans with colorful parades lining the streets and elegant balls held in hotel ballrooms, auditoriums, and even the Superdome. Since 1873, flowers have played an integral part in decorating vibrant floats and lavish events that take place during the Carnival season.

“Engravings going back more than a century show flowers as a central art form during Mardi Gras,” says one Rex Krewe official, who traditionally must remain nameless. “Mardi Gras balls in the 1800s were held in the French Opera House and featured a profusion of fresh flowers with garlands draping the box seats,” he continues. “Bold papier mâché flowers—made in the same technique for more than a century—decorate floats today. Flowers are one of the many traditions that make this celebration unique.”

Indeed they do. It is impossible to count how many flowers are used in the weeks preceding Fat Tuesday in 21st century Mardi Gras, but consider this: in the dozens of approved balls (and hundreds of more informal events that take place at schools, nursing homes, and clubs), Mardi Gras officials, event planners, and florists estimate that an astronomical number of fresh flowers—hundreds of thousands of stems of every variety and color—will decorate stages, table tops, and ballroom entrances in this city.

The floats used in Mardi Gras parades also carry on the floral themes, as seen in this Rex float.

Perhaps no one has more Mardi Gras ball-staging experience than Blaine Kern, Jr. For more than two decades, Kern, president and CEO of Mardi Gras Productions, has designed the opulent sets and supplied the flowers for nearly 40 balls annually, including some of the largest and most prestigious.

“Each ball has its own traditions of colors, themes, and design needs. Flowers are a vital component,” says Kern. “They help uphold long-standing traditions and soften and add a third dimension to these large sets. With these massive arrangements, the stages aren’t so stiff and formal.”

Kern and his staff work with the Captain and other Krewe members to make sure that the flowers selected will carry out the ball’s theme (if there is one), as well as the traditions, colors, and scale. Planning begins months in advance, and in some cases, Krewes begin planning just a few weeks after the previous Mardi Gras ends.

“It’s a year-round effort,” he says.

Miss Julie Eleanor Comarda, Queen of Mystery, takes her place on the stage flanked by enormous red rose sprays.

For Rex, the grandest and best-known ball, Kern supplies the traditional massive arrangements of forsythia, gold smilax, Fuji mums, yellow micro daisies, and acacia in the same tall wooden stands that have been used for more than 50 years. He completes the elaborate stage with large baskets of ferns, yellow mums, and Spathiphyllum, creating a breathtaking set worthy of any royalty.

“The Rex set is the same every year, with minor tweaking,” he explains. “It highlights the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold—which represent justice, faith, power—and is truly the hallmark of the season.”

By contrast, the Krewe of Hermes, another large ball that Kern stages, changes its color scheme each year and uses tens of thousands of flowers for its ball, Queen’s Supper, and other official events. The current set dons large Roman columns with a backdrop reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles. Throughout the ball’s set, entrance, and Queen’s Supper it is customary to find large urns filled with more than 3,000 assorted roses, more than 1,000 stems of orchids, several thousand varieties of micro daisies, and enough Rubrum lilies to send the fragrance wafting through the air all night.

“The Captain of Hermes is adamant about the lavish use of flowers,” says Kern. “He selects the theme for the ball in the summer and gives us some guidelines. He wants every detail correct and is very hands-on in terms of knowing what he wants. But we’ve done this ball so many times that he has a high level of trust in us.”

Without a doubt, no ball maintains more of a floral identity than the Krewe of Mystery, also known as the “The Ball of the Roses.” For 98 years, Mystery has incorporated the red rose into every facet of the Mardi Gras season. Invitations, programs, royalty scrolls, Krewe gifts, sets, boutonnières, and bouquets—all are emblazoned with deep, rich, red rose motifs.

“We are a relatively small organization, with only 250 members, but in the course of the ball, Queen’s Supper, and past King and Queen luncheons, we will go through thousands of red roses,” says the Mystery Captain. He adds that the set of the ball alone boasts large urns filled with 1,000 red roses.

As they were presented, ladies-in-waiting for the 2009 Hermes Ball entered past these arrangements of all-white flowers including roses, orchid sprays, micro daisies, and lilies set on columns.

As tradition dictates, after the seventh dance, masked Krewe of Mystery members remove the roses from the urns and present them to their wives and other dance partners.

“Many bright red petals fall onto the white dance floor, and it really is quite a pretty sight,” says the Captain.

During the week preceding the ball, Mystery members wear specially designed ties created by New Orleans designer Cecile Hardy of NOLA Couture, and the Krewe members give their wives and guests elegant pins designed by local jewelry artist India Stewart. Both tie and pin bear the rose motif.

“The red rose is so ensconced in Mystery’s history that it really is our whole identity,” says the Captain. “We don’t use the traditional purple, green, and gold of Carnival. We stick with the red rose, and trust me, there’s no hint of anyone wanting to change that tradition!”

One challenge for all the event planners and florists is that Mardi Gras usually takes place in February, a difficult time to find many of these sought-after flowers. Mystery is usually held around Valentine’s Day, when the demand for red roses is at its peak. Villere’s Florist of Metairie, Mystery’s florist, places their order months in advance to ensure a timely arrival. Likewise, Blaine Kern and his staff will make sure the forsythia used at the Rex Ball is in their warehouse two weeks beforehand to be certain it is at peak bloom the night of the ball.

“Mardi Gras balls are a window to the past,” says the Rex official. “These events are really about families who share traditions, a history, and a culture that have continued for generations. Flowers are part of this tradition and help create lasting memories of this great celebration we call Mardi Gras.”

Summer 2009 | By Laura Claverie | Hermes Photos by Darryl Schmitt Photography Mystery and Rex Photos by Mike Posey Photography & Video