The 18th Gay Easter Parade will roll through the streets of the historic French Quarter Easter Sunday, April 16 at 4:30 pm. It's the first time in three years the parade will return to its original route since construction on the N. Rampart Street/St. Claude Avenue Streetcar Project has been completed. The beautifully redone corridor now connect s the French Quarter to the Marigny ending at Elysian Fields Avenue. The colorful and elegant parade will be led by Easter Grand Marshals XVIII Glen Kah...
The 18th Gay Easter Parade will roll through the streets of the historic French Quarter Easter Sunday, April 16 at 4:30 pm. It's the first time in three years the parade will return to its original route since construction on the N. Rampart Street/St. Claude Avenue Streetcar Project has been completed. The beautifully redone corridor now connect s the French Quarter to the Marigny ending at Elysian Fields Avenue. The colorful and elegant parade will be led by Easter Grand Marshals XVIII Glen Kahrman, manager of Food For Friends and Bootsie DeVille, socialite and Queen Petronius L.
The 18th Gay Easter Parade minus expenses benefits Food For Friends, and has now raised an incredible $264,784.41 for charity the past 15 years. In 2016, Food For Friends, a program of the NO/AIDS Task Force, distributed 40,000 home delivered meals, 18,500 pounds of groceries, and 9,500 bags of groceries. Food For Friends will be taking up a collection along the parade route this year to add to the tally raised. If you haven't made it to one of the fundraisers, please give generously April 16.
This year the parade boasts 47 units including 29 carriages, wagons and trolleys; 7 convertibles; 2 bands; and 11 walking groups. The GEP Board of Directors welcomes: Band 3rd Line Brass Band, Carriage Easter Grand Marshal Glen Kahrman, Carriage Easter Grand Marshal Bootsie DeVille. Carriage Darwin Reed & Opal Masters, Carriage Tittie Toulouse & Electra City, Trolley Tony Leggio, Carriage Rip & Marsha Naquin-Delain, Carriage Monica Synclaire-Kennedy, Carriage The Golden Lantern, Trolley The Golden Lantern, Carriage Oz, Carriage Mercedes Carswell, Carriage Misti & Catherine Gaither, Carriage Krewe of Satyricon, Carriage Krewe of Petronius, Carriage The Double Play, Carriage Kajun's Pub, Carriage Amon-Ra Bunny Rejects, Carriage LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, Carriage Buddy Juneau, Trolley Krewe of Armeinius, Band Pair-A-Dice Tumblers, Carriage Curtis Smith/Amon-Ra, Trolley Krewe of Stars, Carriage Carl Anderson & Jimmy Lee, Carriage Radical Faeries, Wagon Michael Martin, Wagon Gary Vandeventer, Wagon Natasha Sinclair & Jimmy DeBlanc, Wagon Darrin Duplessey, Wagon Chris Heishman,
5 Walking Groups Chris Heishman, Convertible Food For Friends, Walking Group Food For Friends, 2 Convertibles Kajun's Pub, Convertible The Corner Pocket, Walking Group Lords of Leather, Convertible Bradley Cantrell, Walking Group Krewe of Mermoux, Convertible Appletini Revue, Walking Group The Flaming Flagettes, Walking Group Wit's End Band & Walking Crew, Convertible Krewe of Mwindo, and Walking Group Radical Faeries.
Arrival/check in time is 3 pm at GrandPre's, 834 N. Rampart Street. Carriages load at 4pm with complete parade lineup. Departure time is 4:30 pm sharp, ending at 6 pm for the Post-Parade Party & Buffet at GrandPre's.
Line-Up is on North Rampart (Armstrong Park side) beginning at St. Ann back towards Dumaine and beyond to Esplanade on park side of street.
The parade route is: start N. Rampart @ Armstrong Arch, left on St. Ann, left on Bourbon, right on Esplanade, right on Royal, right on St. Louis, right on N. Rampart, ending at 834 N. Rampart at GrandPre's.
A very special debt of gratitude to all of the sponsors including:
Presenting - Ambush Magazine; Platinum - Friday Night Before Mardi Gras, EGM XVIII Glen Kahrman & Noel Twilbeck, James Garner/The Golden Lantern, Alva John Groth II;
Gold - EGM XII Gary Vandeventer, Joann Guidos/Kajun’s Pub, Krewe of Amon-Ra, EGM XVIII Bootsie DeVille, Jeff Bater & Tim Irving, Ken GrandPre’/GrandPre’s, Michael & Tommy Elias/The Corner Pocket, EGM XV Todd Blauvelt, Mona Lisa Restaurant, Ron Iafrate/Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop & Pub;
Silver - EGM XV Stuart Nettles & EGM IX Safonda Peters, Rodney Thoulion & RJ Buras, Rachel Bufkin & Sharon Barreca, King Amon-Ra LII Ronnie White/EGM XIII Rhonda Roget & King Amon-Ra XLVII David Roget, Dwain Hertz & Gene Theriot/Gene’s Po-Boys, Wood Enterprises, SDGM XLII Jeffrey Palmquist & Coca J. Mesa, GR II William G. Antill, Matt Giglio/700 Club;
Bronze - EGM XV Starr Daniels & Justin Moffatt, EGM IX Orlando Aloe, Jr., EGM X & SDGM XLII Tony Leggio, Krewe of Armeinius, SDGM XLII Felicia Phillips, EGM XIII Darwin Reed & EGM VII Opal Masters, James deBlanc, Natasha Sinclair, Robert Cook, Jim Hochadel, Gerard A Scavo, In Memoriam: EGM VIII Rona Conners, Michael Sullivan, Bebe Scarpinato & Chris Linwood, Solitaire; and
Venue/In Kind - Food For Friends Kitchen, Four Seasons, GrandPre’s, Oz New Orleans, The Double Play, House of Blues Music Hall, Larry Graham/GrahamStudioOne.
You too can still become a sponsor. There are 5 levels of sponsorship including Presenting $2,500, Platinum $1,000, Gold $500, Silver $250 and Bronze $100. Sponsorship forms are available at www.gayeasterparade.com/images/gepsponsorform.pdf.
Past grand marshals include EGMs I Rip and Marsha Naquin-Delain, II Larry Bagneris and the late Miss Do Moreland, III Timm Holt and Teryl-Lynn Foxx, IV the late George Simons and Electra City, V Brett Messmer and Princesse Stephaney, VI James Swire and Lisa Beaumann, VII the late Doc Reed and Opal Masters, VIII Michael Elias and the late Rona Conners, IX Orlando Aloe and Safonda Peters, X Tony Leggio and the late Marcy Marcell, XI Chuck Turner and Tittie Toulouse, XII Gary Vandeventer and Elizabeth Bouvier, XIII Darwin Reed and Rhonda Roget, XIV Tommy Elias and Starr Daniels, XV Todd Blauvelt and Stuart Nettles, XVI Johnny Passion and Deja Deja-Vue’, and XVII Ken GrandPre and Monica Synclaire-Kennedy. #ambushmag #theofficialdish #gayneworleans #gayeasterparade
Sponsored by Ambush Magazine, more information is available at www.GayEasterParade.com.