Emerald Coast Times

Laissez les bons temps rouler — let the good times roll — is the mantra Feb. 11 when the Crestview History Museum celebrates Mardi Gras for its monthly Second Saturday opening. The family-friendly observance of New Orleans’ pre-Lenten carnival lets much of the “good times roll” while leaving the more raucous parts to French Quarter celebrants.

“We’re going celebrate the best aspects of Mardi Gras,” Crestview’s Cultural Services specialist Brian Hughes said. “The festive — some might say tacky — decorations, king cake, non-alcoholic hurricane punch, beads and live jazz music will spice up the museum and the big front porch. But there will be absolutely nothing naughty going on out on the balcony!”

Having lived in New Orleans more than 20 years before moving to Crestview after Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Hughes is amply familiar with the fun but clean ways of celebrating Carnival, having spent many a parade day with friends on the prime Uptown viewing corner of Napoleon and St. Charles Avenues. 

“I really enjoyed the congenial, neighborhood feeling of people sharing king cake, fried chicken and jambalaya with total strangers between parades, then competing for the best throws as the floats rumbled by,” he said.

Volunteers have been helping get the Bush House dressed in its Mardi Gras frippery, taking down some Christmas decorations on Twelfth Night, per tradition, and converting others into Mardi Gras decorations. The Carnival season began that day, Jan. 6, and lasts until midnight on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 21.

The three-piece Brighton Street Band will get toes tapping between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. during the Feb. 11 Mardi Gras at the Bush House. King cake courtesy of Winn-Dixie and non-alcoholic hurricanes will be waiting in the kitchen. 

Each visitor will receive a strand or two of genuine Mardi Gras beads, snatched from the air as they flew off a float during the Uptown New Orleans revelry and imported to Crestview.

Admission, beads and king cake are free, as are dancing and clapping along to the jazz music of the Brighton Street Band. The good times will indeed roll at the Bush House Feb. 11!

CRESTVIEW HISTORY MUSEUM

The Crestview History Museum in the historic Bush House is at 198 South Wilson St. and is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Second Saturday openings are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

The March 11 opening is Flea to the Bush House and will feature a flea market and crafts fair in the parking lot next to the museum. Booth space is available for a $10 donation to the Crestview Area Sister City Ambassadors student organization and benefits their June trip to Noirmoutier, France.

Original source can be found here.