Les Fous du CarnavalLES FOUS
DU CARNAVAL
Costumed parade participants in purple and pink on a French Quarter street

LES FOUS DU CARNAVAL

We bow down
to no ruler.

We are Carnival of and for the masses.

Once Upon A Fou · 2026

Photo: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee @rhrphotography

ABOUT LES FOUS DU CARNAVAL

Les Fous du Carnaval is a community of like-minded krewes with shared ideals. We organized in 2021 and launched our first parade in 2022. We are not bound by a single captain—each inner krewe has equal input and a safe space to shape our future.

We are iconoclastic and inclusive and strive to represent the true diversity of our city within our membership (except for the local “nobility” who, in the true spirit of the origins of Mardi Gras, can all get bent) and keep Carnival equitable, accessible, and affordable for all.

We are lovers, not fighters. We bow down to no ruler. We are Carnival of and for the masses.

Parade participants from the Mystical Krewe of Aziza wearing green and gold costumes and flower crowns
Photo: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee @rhrphotography
Photo: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee @rhrphotography

2026 PARADE · JANUARY 23, 2026

Once Upon
A Fou

Marigny & French Quarter

2026 press release (PDF) ↗

Friends, Bards, Wicked Stepmothers, Talking Animals, and Woodsmen Who’ve Lost the Plot, Les Fous du Carnaval is back for our FIFTH YEAR as a parade to cordially invite all wayward princesses, knights, and poisoned fruit to step into the storybook with us for our next enchanted chapter: ✨Once Upon A Fou✨

Our charms will guile & delight parade-goers with a pageant of ornate costumes, hand-crafted gifts of talismans, a series of increasingly questionable tableaux, and the forests will echo with laughter as we prowl, haunt, conjure, and scamper off-script to the brass bands New Groove, Kings of Brass, and the Banana Peel Stompers.

2026 parade route

Frenchmen & Decatur Streets → Frenchmen → Royal → St. Philip → Decatur → Jackson Square

LES FOUS DU CARNAVAL

Parade Photographs

Photos: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee @rhrphotography