Mardi Gras had been getting bigger and more expensive every year, the floats and costumes of the organized krewes more and more lavish. If something hadn’t been done soon, the average reveler would have been confined forever to the role of spectator. It just didn’t seem fair.
It was his far-sighted recognition of the need for a carnival krewe so cheap that anyone could join that in 1978 prompted a presumably handsome young New Orleanian to found a new carnival group. No preparation was necessary to join, and the cost was less than a dime. All you had to do was put a paper plate on your face.
My Life as a Plate, Gris-Gris, July 16-22, 1979
Paper Plates on Parade, Times-Picayune, Sunday, February 8, 2004
