Mayor of Mobile, Alabama Just Ticked Everyone in Louisiana Off

If I mention the words Mardi Gras, what comes to mind? Is it Louisiana revelers chasing a chicken in Eunice? A carnival and concerts in Lafayette? Trees filled with beads in Baton Rouge? An endless stream of parades through the streets of New Orleans? If any of those thoughts came to your mind when you read the words Mardi Gras then you understand Mardi Gras.

The Mayor of Mobile, Alabama does not.

Mobile is to Mardi Gras what Auburn is to college football, they are pretenders. Oh sure, they will cite some revisionist history that suggests Mobile was the "birthplace of Mardi Gras". Even if that's true and Mardi Gras was born there it sure as hell doesn't live there and it didn't get its reputation by being stuck in that damn tunnel that runs under Mobile Bay.

Sandy Stimpson is the Mayor of Mobile, Alabama. And when he and his councils of civic leaders aren't delaying Amtrak train service across the Gulf Coast they are busy spreading horsepucky about Mardi Gras. No, that's not the Mayor pictured below but it could be if he keeps this nonsense up.

Yesterday, Tuesday, Mayor Stimpson read a proclamation that gives "New Orleans and St. Louis permission to celebrate Mardi Gras this year". The proclamation stems from the belief in Mobile that the city is home to the oldest organized Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.

The honorable Mayor went on to say that celebrations in other cities were "initiated by migrating Mobilians, who spread the majesty of the Carnival season across the region". I do not doubt that a lot of people migrated from Mobile to Louisiana because we threw a much better party. And because of the reputation of the Mardi Gras party that we throw you're now trying to horn in and take credit. Below are our thoughts on the Mayor's proclamation.

Hey Mayor Stimpson, did you guys invent chasin chickens for a gumbo? What, y'all don't do that in Mobile? Well here in Louisiana we've been doing that since we got thrown out of Canada for being a hell of a lot cooler than the people who settled in Mobile, or some other reason, probably religious. 

I guess we could all pile on the Mayor of Mobile and tell him exactly where he can stick his permission or we could just invite him to come join the "real Mardi Gras". It's a Louisiana thing, like college football. We just know how to do it better.