Mardi Gras World is run by the famous Kern family. They have been making Mardi Gras floats since the 1930s. Over the past couple of decades they have sailed into the arena of fiberglass statues as well. Some of their corporate clients include Disney and Universal.

After a short video introduction visitors are allowed to try on parade costumes before being escorted through the first part of the Kern warehouse. At the halfway point you are given a sampling of "authentic cinnamon-flavored purple, green and gold Mardi Gras cake." The tour wraps up in a large darkened hanger where fully assembled floats shine in hundreds of tiny fiber optic lights. The centerpiece is a 240-foot-long riverboat.

One of the Kern's more notorious creations was a Mermaid Gate for the 1982 World's Fair. The sirens bare, brazen breasts and buttocks sent phones ringing off the hook when a national television audience spotted them. It too is on display here.

All in all it is a pretty fun tour. It beats standing on a curb for two hours as an unruly crowd spills beer all over you. And you do get to have a bit of dirty fun along the way. Getting to Mardi Gras World requires crossing the murky depths of the Mississippi River.

Mardi Gras World
233 Newton Street
New Orleans, LA