Cavaliers Alumni at Mardi Gras
From February 24th through February 28th, a group of Cavaliers alumni took to the streets of New Orleans to participate in Mardi Gras 2022. Over 100 alumni representing The Cavaliers from the 1960's through 2021 age outs performed Tiger Rag, Up Town Funk, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow in the two largest parades of the festival that saw over 1.4M people celebrating in New Orleans. In performing in over 10 miles of parades, The Cavalier's brand and the Village of Rosemont were put on display on one of the world's largest stages for many to see.
The group started the week rehearsing at Holy Cross School on Thursday. With only 10 hours of rehearsal time to prepare, the instructional team led by Kevin LeBoeuf, Mike Martin, Matt Owen, Mike Green, and Scott McCoy quickly brought the group together in record time. The corps was asked to perform for the school during their on-campus Mardi Gras parade with our staff recruiting several of their young students to be part of the performance.
Saturday saw the group performing in the Endymion Parade. From the start, the corps won the crowd over with their personal interactions with the crowd, some even dancing with parade attendees, others engaging with children along the route that they saw holding toy instruments. The 3 1/2 mile parade concluded with a lap around the floor of the Superdome to perform for the black tie Endymion Ball.
On Sunday, the corps spent a free day exploring the sights, scenes, and culture of New Orleans with many of the corps members visiting the National WWII museum.
Monday saw the corps come together for the last time to perform in the Orpheus parade. Marching behind the float of the parade organizer Harry Connick Jr., the corps marched the 6 1/2 miles through the garden district, down Canal, winding up at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for a final "victory lap" through Orpheus ball. Once the formal activities were complete, the corps gathered for an emotional singing of Rainbow and the Corps Song with each member knowing they had reconnected with old friends, made new friends, and strengthened the bonds that exist between all generations of The Cavaliers.
