Krewe of Tchefuncte Boat Parade
Tchefuncte River
Madisonville, Louisiana
Feb. 7
In 2026, the rest of the country has been recovering from the holiday season. In Southern Louisiana, New Year’s Day just rang in the start of the next holiday season: Mardi Gras, and parades in full swing. Streets are barricaded off and closed, beads are in the air, and parades are rolling.
In Madisonville, the annual parade is on the water.
Since 1973, the Krewe of Tchefuncte has organized a parade of river cruisers that go down the river. The parade goes by the riverfront restaurant, the Anchor, which is where I stationed myself to watch the parade. The restaurant has a good set-up for this. The patio seating has a clear view of the river. For those with children, there’s a fenced in play area with a boat themed play structure. The weather was perfect; the actual parade itself was a little shorter than expected.
The parade part was less than 20 minutes, about a dozen floats and pretty chill. But the prep was wild. I arrived at the Anchor 45 minutes early for the opening at 11 a.m., and the parade didn’t start until noon. I wasn’t the first one there. People had staked out picnic blanket spots around the river bank. Some experienced parade goers put down picnic blankets and then got in line at the restaurant. (Now that I’ve been to this parade, I can confidently say this is the expert way to go.)
The parade was race themed. Boats floated by with giant inflatable horses, humans dressed as rats (Rat race), and big shiny trophies. If you’ve been to a parade, you might be wondering to yourself – as I was – how they threw anything from these boats. Even from the dock just outside the restaurant, the boats are just a little too far for comfort. According to my parade-attending companions, the krewe at the Tickfaw boat parade just goes for it, but it seemed clear that similar attempts here would just end with lots of beads in the water.
The solution: After the whole parade floated by, several of the boats docked by the bank and unloaded a boatload (literally) of parade throws off the side, and they were still at it an hour later. Throws included giant Valentine’s Day bears, beads, disks and more. For those in the know, it’s clearly a beloved Mardi Gras tradition. Watching from the patio, I could not help but be impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment to the bit.
As those who were in the front got their fill of parade throws, they started dispersing, allowing those who were in the back a chance to move forward. I’ve never seen a parade work this way; it was nice. The boat parade is a family-friendly and relaxed Mardi Gras event, a welcome change of pace from the other, often overstimulating parades.
