Shreveport Mardi Gras Traditions That Are Banned in New Orleans

Shreveport and New Orleans are just about as far apart as you can get between Louisiana cities. Separated by hundreds of miles, and about 5 hours on the road (with good traffic and no speed traps), these two cities represent the largest southern city in the state and the largest northern city in the state. But when it comes to Mardi Gras, the two cities seem ever further apart.

In New Orleans, many of their "uptown" parades follow a route that is just over 4.5 miles long. The largest Krewe in New Orleans, Krewe of Endymion (over 3,000 riders), takes a Mid-City route that is over 6.5 miles long. Its the biggest parade in New Orleans by far.

In Shreveport, the two big parades are the Krewe of Centaur and the Krewe of Gemini. These two krewes follow the same parade route, which spans roughly 6 miles through Shreveport. Starting downtown, making a journey along the Clyde Fant Parkway, into Shreve City, and onto Kings Highway.

While those distances seem pretty comparable, its more about what the revelers can, and can't do, during the parades that separate the two.

WWNO New Orleans put together a list of the items that have been banned in New Orleans for Mardi Gras parades. When you look at this list, try to count how many of these BANNED items you are guaranteed to see at Shreveport Mardi Gras parades...because they're tradition.

Here are the banned items for parades in New Orleans:

Portable toilets
Confetti cannons
Tents
Canopies
Shelters
Screens
Awnings
Ropes
Spray paint
Any type of barricade
Open flames like barbecue grills
Gas or diesel generators
Upholstered furniture, including sofas and chaise lounges
Scaffolding
Platforms
Ladders taller than six feet

To be honest, most (if not all) of those items could be found on the parade route for the 2025 Krewe of Centaur parade. Really, you could probably hit everything on this checklist just on Kings Highway near the duck pond.

Shreveport and New Orleans do a lot of things different, especially Mardi Gras. But that doesn't make either right, or wrong.