Courir du Mardi Gras-Chicken Run

The Sunday before Fat Tuesday is set aside for parades and an old tradition of a Chicken Run.  It’s when revelers dress up in fringed clothing as a statement to mock the aristocrats in France in the old days.  They visit farms asking for a chicken for their gumbo. These chickens are thrown into the air and hoards of drunk young guys run around trying to catch the chicken. They then beg for nickels which traditionally was to buy rice, also for their gumbo.  Many times a band will play and revelers will dance with bystanders.  It is a lot of fun.

Before the parade begins and the revelers arrive, the land owner has a party with everyone invited bringing food to share.  Betty arranged for us to go to Church Point to Kate and Brian’s home.  We took up a collection and bought 20 pounds of Nunu’s boudin and 20 pounds of various Nunu sausages (the strawberry and cane sugar sausages were the biggest hit) along with King Cakes and loaves of bread.  Jim cooked up the food and several of us served it to everyone on the property.  It was well received.

The poor chickens	Miss Kate	Jim and Brian
Serving room beautifully decorated	with Mardi Gras Tree	Our group watching the band
Plate of boudin	Links of sausage ready to serve	The band, Gravel Road Band, with our buddy, Dave

Here come the revelers…..please click on the photos to enlarge them

	Dodo gets in the action	Running after those chickens
Laura Bornkamp got a ride

Then came the parade. Some of the Krewe (crew) names were traditional, but a few were a bit risqué, like Krewe du Bang Bang and Drunk n da Box.  It was all in fun and they threw a lot of nice beads, stuffed animals and cups.

Here’s the folks at the end with all their bounty ...

Our gang with all their bounty	This guy used a set of animals to catch the throws
Look at this guys beads	Jim Mossman didn’t do bad either

We got one of the more sober attendees to take this photo

On the way home we saw this on the back of one of the parade floats as they maneuvered down the road.

We all had a wonderful time and so appreciated being invited to Kate and Brian’s home for the Chicken Run.  We must have acted appropriately because we got asked back for next year.  We won’t be there, so those of you who will be there …. you have a lot to live up to!!!!

Remember, you are loved.