All on a Mardi Gras day

Photo from Tulane University Archives newwave@tulane.edu

The King of Carnival greets his subjects in 1954.
Rex, King of Carnival, rolls down Canal Street on Fat Tuesday in 1954. That year, Rex was Leon Irwin Jr., a Tulane University alumnus. The Krewe of Rex first paraded in 1872, introducing the official colors of Mardi Gras: purple, green and gold. Today, Rex continues the tradition of floats built on wooden wagons with wood-spoked wheels.