The good times will soon be rolling, but the 34th annual Mardi Gras Southeast Texas will have a new home – Doggett Ford Park – when the festival opens Feb. 28 through March 2 at 5115 Interstate 10 South in Beaumont.
“It’s an exciting and challenging at the same time, but we are up for it and ready to have a successful year,” said Laura Childress, president of Mardi Gras Southeast Texas.
Parking is free for all three days and admission fee to get into the grounds of Mardi Gras is $13 each day, which includes a service fee, and children 12 and under are free.
Entry into the grounds includes plenty of festival attractions such as the parades, free children’s area (inflatables, magic show, games), wiener dog races, petting zoo, specialty acts like Kenny’s Balloon Magic, Dallas the Fire Eater as well as food trucks and arts and crafts vendors.
There’s also an outdoor “Gold Stage” entertainment area that will be included in the $13 daily fee. Scheduled to perform over the weekend are Gerard Delafose & Zydeco Gators, Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin’ Cajuns, The Alley Kats, The Moondog Howlers, Scott McGill, Tyron Benoit Band and others.
For those wanting to see the indoor arena headliner musical acts, a separate ticket is required. For those who do purchase a ticket for the arena shows, it does include free admission to the Mardi Gras grounds.
Scheduled to perform inside Doggett Ford Arena on Friday, Feb. 28, is Kolby Cooper at 8 p.m. followed by Texas country headliner Southall at 10 p.m. Tickets for this show are $35-$75.
Multi-platinum recording rapper Flo Rida will headline the arena show Saturday, March 1, at 10 p.m. Tickets are $45-$100. Nearing 100 million records sold, Flo Rida hit the music scene in 2007 with his smash hit “Low,” which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and broke the record for digital download sales at the time of its release.
Flo Rida’s catalog of hit tunes are “Right Round,” “Club Can’t Handle Me,” “Good Feeling,” “Wild Ones,” “Whistle” and “My House.”
The opening act for Saturday, March 1, will be announced soon.
Latino bands Intacio, Lunada and Tropa Estrella will perform inside the arena Sunday, March 2, beginning at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20.
Parades are aplenty as the Krewe of Krewe begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28. The Motorcycle Showcase Parade gets Saturday, March 1, party started at 5:30 p.m. followed by the big Majestic Krewe of Aurora Parade at 6 p.m. Parades will conclude Sunday, March 2, with the Royalty March, Umbrella and Munchkin Parade at 2 p.m. and the Motor Parade at 3 p.m.
It was nearly three decades ago when a small group of friends created Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas. After years of planning and collaboration with dozens of nonprofit organizations, their inaugural Mardi Gras was held in Port Arthur in February of 1993.
“Mardi Gras Southeast Texas is a volunteer nonprofit orginization, and we take no salaries,” added Childress. “The reason Mardi Gras Southeast Texas was created is to give back to the community. It’s why we call it a ‘party with a purpose’ because our purpose is fundraising for nonprofit groups that provide services to Southeast Texas, and we have been able to donate more than $1.5 million over the last 30 years.”
For tickets and detailed information, visit mardigrastx.com.
“We invite the entire community to come out and enjoy our new convenient location with easy access, clean restrooms and ample lighted parking,” said Childress.