All About the Lockport Parade
Being the Nola Nerd Couple, we love Mardi Gras. We love going to parades in New Orleans and Metairie. However, the Mr. (aka me) is from Lockport, a small town about 40 minutes south of New Orleans. In 2016, he decided to ask some riders about the Lockport Parade: its traditions, what it’s like to ride, etc.
The Krewe of Apollo parade rolls the Saturday before Mardi Gras in the small town of Lockport. I grew up in Lockport and look forward to the parade every year. My sister rode in the parade until recently. My mom has people over to eat and enjoy the parade. It seems as everyone in town has people over. In fact, if you walk the parade route in this town where everyone knows each other, you will be hard-pressed not to find people offering you food and drink.
Learning about the Lockport Parade
To get ready for this the 2016 parade, I asked my sister, Natalie, and a friend, Glenn Sapia, to answer some questions about the Krewe of Apollo. They both responded quickly and we learned a lot about the parade, including stuff I didn’t even know. While this is not a definitive history, we are hoping that more people read this blog and each year we can repost it with new information and pictures. So leave a comment or send us an email if you have some history of the parade that you would like to share!
The Birth of Apollo and Growth
The parade started in 1963, but according to Glenn, the first two years the parade didn’t have a king but instead had Mr. XJ Chauvin who served as Grand Marshall. The parade today has about 150 riders and the ride lasts about three hours (you can find the route here).
The parade recently expanded and now has about 21 floats. Lockport Middle School and Central Lafourche High School march in the parade. Central Lafourche is one of the best marching bands in the state and could have their pick of parades to march in that Saturday, including Endymion, but they always put civic duty and pride first by marching in the Lockport parade.
How Did they Join? How long have they been Krewe members?
Glenn joined the Krewe basically because it was in his blood. His maternal grandparents and his parents both were members when he was growing up, so he couldn’t wait to join!
According to Natalie, she needed to have someone recommend her to the carnival club, and then she had to fill in a form. After she turned in the paperwork, the club had to vote her in.
Glenn has been in the parade for 26 years joining right out of high school. This will be Natalie’s ninth year riding on the float. She enjoys being a different character each year. Some of the cosplays she’s done as a float rider are a mad scientist, Gilligan, a lion. This year she will be a girl who enjoys archery.
The Krewe of Apollo decorates their own floats to go along with how they dress. Some people start as early as September, but most people spend about 2-4 weeks of their own time, after work, to get their floats ready.
For 2016, the theme of the Krewe of Apollo was Games People Play.
Apollo Royalty
To be eligible to be King or Queen of Apollo, one has to have paid their dues by May 31. If more than one person is qualified they pull the name out of a hat. The same process is used for the Dukes and Maids.
Glenn served as King of Apollo in 1997. For him, it was a great day and enjoyed “reigning over the town as king for a day. It was an awesome experience and one I would not change.” As king, he was responsible for picking out the colors of their costume, his pages, and the beads for the pages to throw.
The Size of the Parade and Theme
The biggest change over the years for the parade is its size. For a long time, Apollo only had 13 floats, but that has grown to around 20. Also, each float would decorate their float independently from the other floats.
For the past 3 years, the floats have been following an overall theme. For Natalie, she likes “the floats having an overall theme because it ties all the floats together.
It’s about Family and Friends
Natalie enjoys riding in the parade with her friends and enjoys bombarding her family and friends with throws when she sees them along the parade route. She enjoys making people happy by “simply throwing them beads or toys.”
Glenn has a special moment on the route that he enjoys. He states “when we get to the where the home for the adults with special needs is and you give them a toy, a stuffed animal or trinket and they have a big smile on their face” is his favorite part of the parade.
The Tornado
When it came for both Glenn and Natalie to respond to what was the craziest thing to ever have happened during a parade, the answer was a tornado. Yes, a tornado struck during the parade. The weather was bad but it was not horrible enough at the start of the parade to cancel the event.
Natalie describes it like this:
I will never forget that year. The weather was horrible but we rode anyway. We were about halfway through the parade route when there was loud big noise and everybody on the ground started running. That is when the wind pickup and all the beads that were hanging started flying everywhere. Everyone realized something was wrong and we all got on the floor of the float. Needless to say, the parade was over. They brought us straight to the den, where the keep the floats, and we found out after that there was a tornado that hit. The following year the weather was bad on parade day but I think a lesson was learned and pulled out the next day instead.
What Makes Lockport Special
For Natalie, the biggest difference between other parades and the Lockport Parade is the floats. Having handmade floats by the Krewe members makes the parade a little more special for her.
Of course, this comes at an expense, so she and all the members of the Lockport Carnival Club appreciate their sponsors and proudly display their brands on their floats. All sponsor money goes to decoration and upkeep of the floats. F
or Glenn, it’s the simplicity of the Lockport parade. He enjoys how it is more of a family-oriented affair with friends and family enjoying each other’s company. It’s a big get together for the community and that makes it special.
Send us your history of the Krewe of Apollo!
We would like to thank Glenn and Natalie for taking out the time to answer our questions and tell us their thoughts about the Lockport Parade. This particular post is one we would like to expand on as the years go by. If you have memories you would like to share about the parade, including pictures, we will try to use them in next year’s post. Of course, all pictures will be given credit to the photographer. Just email us at nolanerdcouple@gmail.com.
Can’t Hardly Wait for 2020
Also if you liked, this blog, make sure you checked out our coverage of the 2015 and 2017 parades. We couldn’t make it in 2018 since the Mrs. was too deep in pregnancy. 2019 was a no go because I had hernia surgery two days before.
This year the parade falls on our little one’s birthday.
I hope she doesn’t think she is getting a parade for every birthday!
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I am new in the Lockport area. I come from Greenville South Carolina. I\’ve been trying to find out about the parade in Lockport what time it starts where it starts at. I would love to go to it.
It starts at noon. This is the parade route. We ususally catch it right at the beginning and near Holy Savior Church. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1pNiFuke6uguhwxSbHsETxYkBlyk&hl=en_US&ll=29.64307587650638%2C-90.53834617137909&z=16
I miss my hometown. Haven\’t been to a Lockport parade in over 30 years – where is the band? I loved marching in the parades as a majorette and as a band member! So many memories!!
The band was there, we were catching up with friends at the time and we forgot to take pictures.
Was my first time back in over 15 years – was fun doing a little walking around seeing my Lockport peeps – next year we need to get the old crew together to watch it!
Yes, we do!
As a true Lockportian, I love this parade. It\’s one of the only parades I try to make. For years my grand parents Wallace Sr. And Catherine Arceneaux along with my great grandmother lived on the parade route on Lafourche St. My great grandmother and grandpa Wallace passed away several years ago. It\’s only been 3 years since his wife (my heart other than my son) has passed. Since then the Arceneaux families have not had a place to stand on the route since they sold the home. Parading just don\’t seem the same. We would decorate their old style house and cook hot dogs and chili with King cake and treats. My uncle would often play music with his dj system. It truly was a family event for us that brought the whole family together. As a long time 911 call taker and now dispatcher for Sheriff\’s office I have only missed a few years of the parade and this year was one of them. It just don\’t seem the same for me but I continue to do my best to schedule off every year. Thanks for the pictures. In honor of my grandparents Wally (the man that greated u at Walmart after he retired) years ago and Catherine (the sweetest lady that ever lived, that everyone called maw maw Katie) may the world share the blessings that our family has at the wonderful Lockport Parade. Thanks to all that put it on. 💜💚💛
Even though I don\’t live there anymore, we try to make it every year. It\’s the only parade that we do our best to get to. I remember your grandfather, a great guy. I\’m glad you got to \”experience\” the parade through the pictures.
Awesome post. Krewe of Apollo parade day is like nothing else. Family, friends, food fun. . I have only missed one of the parades that I can remember. Victor could answer other questions that you may have as he served as President a couple of years ago. He is so proud of the floats they create for parade day. The have moving parts and the arcade at the end of the float was actually working.
I want to ask a bunch of people including victor, but work and personal things got in the way. This was supposed to be a series of posts actually. we want to post this each year with more past/present photos and stories.
Hey did you see the sign on the Arcade float – Overall 1st prize and 1st prize for costumes – – that was Victor\’s float. No he didn\’t ride – left for Disney World at 2 am Sunday morning with his daughter, Claire. So he was with us. Check out Aline\’s pictures. The float crew worked so hard, so needless to say, they were proud, (p.s. 3rd year in a row they have won first prize ))
Great job on representing our great little hometown parade!!!!!!!
Thanks! The older I get the more I appreciate the parade and time spent with family. And the Lockport parade deserves a spotlight!
Missed seeing y\’all this year! Why was there no royalty this year? I remember tornado year. I still have a souvenir street sign that had fallen…Church and 7th 🙂
We had the ACT in the morning and then our cat was coming back from the vet, so we missed the beginning where we usually stand and just caught it by the church. Natalie said there was no royalty because no one applied for it. We unfortunately missed the tornado year! We went out of town.