Mardi Gras madness ensued Saturday as a frenzy of folks flocked to Front Street Festival Plaza in downtown Texarkana for a full day of family-friendly fun, food, floats and festivities.
"You gotta get up before you get down. You gotta get lost before you get found," said Kevin Russell, lead singer of Austin-based Americana band Shinyribs as the group kicked off to play another New Orleans-styled Mardi Gras tune.
Photo Gallery
Cornerstone Pub - Special Olympics Fundraiser
Crowds filled tables and the bar at Cornerstone Pub Thursday during a fundraising event for Special Olympics.
Donna Matthews and her husband set up a booth to sell Mardi Gras attire to the crowd. Donna said her specialty was making hats, such as sequined feathered hats that can be fastened into the hair with a clip.
"My dream is to travel around and make hats," Matthews said. "I want to bring them back in style. Mine are old-fashioned, but with a new twist."
Other vendors sold feathered hats and accessories to accommodate festival-goers who wanted to add a little more festivity to their beads-galore getups.
Kevin Barrett, a disabled veteran from Texarkana, Texas, joined the festivities with his wife, Adriane, and 3-year-old daughter, Lacey. Lacey wore a tall hat that draped over her shoulders into the form of a dragon, with a pink and black tutu that her mother said was given to her by someone on a float.
Like so many others present, Lacey was decked out in beads-lots and lots of beads.
"I'm having fun," she said shyly. "This is my favorite hat."
Fat Jack's Oyster and Sports Bar served up lots of crawfish and gumbo.
"This is going great," said Jacky Mills Jacobs, owner of Fat Jack's. Jacobs' friend Jill McMahon helped serve patrons along with Jacobs' sister and niece, Meredith Mills and Lexie Mills.
Ruth Steely of Nashville, Ark., helped her Relay For Life team, Cancer Kickers, serve deer chili under a group of tents. Other Relay For Life teams were also raising money for the April 23 event. Steely wore a psychedelic yellow top hat covered with peace signs that she picked up in San Francisco a few years back.
"There's nothing like Arkanas deer chili," Steely said.
Donna Butler, event leader with the Four States Fair relay team, said the group had raised about $400-$500 by 3 p.m.
Pets stayed with their owners to wait for the Mardi Gras parade at 3 p.m. after having their very own parade at 11 a.m. on Front and Olive streets.
About 33 floats took to Front Street to make their rounds, tossing beads by the handful to eager children-and adults.
The parade theme, "Krewe of Koinonia: A Parade of the Past," is meant to represent the unity of Texarkana as a bistate city, according to Ross Cowling, Texarkana, Ark.'s Parks and Recreation superintendent.
Extravagant, colorful floats slowly circled downtown as the parade came to a close, complete with a stilt walker, juggler and hula-hoop performers.
"I'm shocked. This is a lot of fun," said Kristy Johnson of Dallas. "I didn't expect there to be so many people dressed up."