Since 2010, music, food trucks and a parade have brought New Orleans, Louisiana, to Columbia. Music plays from three stages as crowds bathed in gold, green and purple dance. Some hold Louisiana beer or classic Cajun-Creole food. Kids run around with their goodies from a parade.
The 16th Annual Mardi Gras Columbia Parade & Festival will be hosted at City Roots urban farm on Feb. 14.
“In the wintertime … we kind of close up shop,” Lauren Johnson, the 2026 Krewe de Columbi-Ya-Ya Queen, said. “Football season is over, the holidays are over, and it’s the first glimpse of spring — anything to get out of the house and bring everybody together…