Hurricane Ike, Mardi Gras, Dickens, And Kappa Weekend

[Reefmonkey]

One thing I wonder about is how Ike will affect the festivals that take place in Galveston. The big 3 are Dickens, Mardi Gras, and Texas Beach Weekend (aka Freaknic, aka Kappa Beach Weekend). I think an event like Ike is a time for a city to reevaluate its priorities. The damage caused by Ike is certainly likely to make these events more subdued than they have been in the past. For Dickens, that may be a bad thing, because this once-fun event has really petered out in the last few years. It's basically just become standard carney food vendors (with a few exceptions) that you find at any other street festival, and the same junky "handcrafts" you'd see for sale at any street festival. I remember as a kid the best time to go was after dark, when it really took on a Dickensonian atmosphere - now they have curtailed the hours and it pretty much shuts down by sunset. They need to do something to revitalize this event or else it is doomed. I predict if they decide not to have the event this year because of Ike aftermath, it will be gone for good.

On the other end of the spectrum are Texas Beach Weekend and Mardi Gras. Fortunately, Texas Beach Weekend seems to be dying off on its own. Kappa disavowed it several years ago, much of the event moved to Miami, and the restaurants and shopowners closing up every year has helped kill it off, and hopefully this spring would-be attendees will associate Galveston with Ike and stay away, which will deliver the coup de gras.

That leaves Mardi Gras. I remember going every year in the 80s as a little kid, and it was a family event. Now the Girls-Gone-Wild mentality has infected it, and there are breasts-galore being flashed, cutthroat antics to get cheap plastic beads at all costs, basically people trying to create what they think New Orleans mardi gras is like in Galveston. The lewdness has got out of hand, and has been on a trajectory to be as bad as Kappa Beach Weekend. Hopefully, Mardi Gras will be subdued in 2009, and this will give it a chance to reboot and return to a more family-friendly brand of Mardi Gras.