5. Attend a parade on Dickson Street

This is the fifth installment of things to do in Fayetteville and the surrounding area. On Saturday, February 21st, my friends and I gathered to watch the Mardi Gras parade on Dickson Street. Dickson Street is the main campus "drag" where you can find lots of bars and lively entertainment. The parade passed along Dickson Street before heading downtown to the Fayetteville Square.

This is my "tribe." From left to right: Roberta, Bill, Robbie, Chuck, and Rhonda. Roberta is married to Robbie and Rhonda is married to Chuck. For newcomers, I am married to Bill.

Roberta is a "holiday" person. She loves all events and throws her entire heart, wardrobe, and home design toward making the occasion truly memorable and authentic. See how she and Rob have dressed for the parade. Behind them is a huge King Cake. For those unfamiliar with the tradition, there is a baby buried in the cake. Whoever gets the baby this year needs to provide next year's cake.



She even dresses her teddy bears for Mardi Gras. This little bear stayed home. He still may be waiting for a slice of King Cake.



By now, you are accustomed to me feeding my face with street food. I didn't want to let you down.



Here I am eating a piece of King Cake from what is purported to be the largest King Cake in the world. If you don't believe me, well, here's the proof:



Once the parade started, Roberta morphed into an champion bead-catcher. Here she is with her first proud catch of the day.



Here are folks on a parade float throwing beads to the parade-watchers.



Here's another float. I'm not sure what they're cookin' up but I don't think I want to try it.



Many worthwhile causes were represented by floats. There were the Bikers Against Child Abuse and the Human Society's "Spay Arkansas" float. I like the juxtaposition in this photo of Buster Billy's Bar & Grill sign next to the Condom Sense sign along with the Spay Arkansas sign. It's just so ironic, I think.



The motto of Mardi Gras is "Laissez les bon temps temps rouler" and not roulez. See how difficult it is for us in Arkansas to speak a foreign language! Aargh!



Here are Chuck and Rhonda. They arrived after the festivities got underway.



Bill was way ahead of them on the bead count. Actually, my thanks to both Bill and Roberta who brought me beads during the parade. I was standing on a retaining wall taking pictures--entirely too far back to be able to catch any beads myself.



Rhonda took this picture after the parade. Lots of beads for me. Nevertheless, Roberta still wins the award for costume direction in her stunning ensemble.



After the parade, the six of us returned to the Billingsley household where warm gumbo, spirits, and more King Cake awaited us. All in all, we partied from 2:30 until 11:30 having the merriest of times. We played Roberta's new game, Apples to Apples, and Rhonda played the piano for us while we tried to sing. Everyone should catch a parade on Dickson Street at least once. Happy Mardi Gras to everyone!