Mardi Gras Southeast Texas will be held at Doggett Ford Park, Feb. 28-March 2. This is the annual event’s first time at the park after moving from downtown Beaumont.
“We’ve been in Beaumont for the last five years, but we’re moving out to Ford Park this year,” Laura Childress, Mardi Gras Southeast Texas president, said. “For the first time, we don’t have to really worry about weather. The concerts will be indoors and be climate controlled.”
“We’ll have free parking,” Childress said. “That seems to be a real plus for people that will be attending the event. We do have some big name concerts coming in as well.”
Southall, Kolby Cooper and Kody West will perform Feb. 28 at Ford Arena. FloRida, C&C Music Factory and DJ John L will perform March 1 and La Tropa Estrella, Lunada and Ignacio Legacy will perform March 2.
More than 50 vendors will be in attendance and the event includes live entertainment, multiple parades and a carnival.
“Mardi Gras is a family friendly affair,” Childress said. “So, there’s activities for all ages and different things that will be going on, such as concerts, parades, food vendors and arts and crafts.”
Childress said people can expect the same Mardi Gras experience as before.
“The location would be the only thing I would say is different about this year,” she said. “We still have our same vendors and activities and things like that. The parades are the same. So really, it’s just a relocation. It’s not a huge change for us.”
This year will be Mardi Gras Southeast Texas’s 32nd anniversary. The event began in 1993 with a mission to benefit nonprofit groups, promote diversity and serve as an economic development project, according to the event’s website.
“Originally, the money for starting, back in 1993, came from 18 nonprofit organizations,” Childress said. “They are the owners of ‘Mardi Gras,’ as far as Mardi Gras Southeast Texas.”
Numerous volunteers and sponsors help fund the event, Childress said.
“We do have sponsors that help contribute to it, but it is not fully funded by any one source,” she said. “We do retain some of the revenue from the festival itself to put on the next one each year.”
Many of the same vendors come back to Mardi Gras SETX annually, Childress said.
“There’s some favorites that people look forward to going out and seeing,” she said. “One would be Rudy’s Kabobs, and lots of gumbo, Cajun and Mexican food. Being a Mardi Gras event, you’re going to have your normal things — corn dogs, funnel cakes, that sort of thing.”
Tickets start at $10 for general festival entrance. Concert passes range from $20-40.
For a full schedule of events, visit mardigrastx.com.