The Knights of Babylon are Ready to Roll

Krewe plans to parade despite Katrina

NEW ORLEANS — As the city of New Orleans begins to clean up, at least one Mardi Gras Krewe is looking forward to parade season.

The Knights of Babylon is committed to staging its 67th Annual Mardi Gras Parade down St. Charles Avenue. The krewe owns all 20 of its floats as well as the "den" in which they are housed. The den, which dates back to the 1800's, is the oldest building in the Irish Channel of New Orleans and was untouched by the flooding.
Themes for the parades are picked years in advance, so work on the floats for 2006 already had begun.

"Our floats are 95 percent finished," said the KOB Captain, whose identity, according to tradition, must be kept secret. "All that is left to do is to tweak accent lighting and make some minor adjustments. Musically, we anticipate having 10 to 15 bands including many local jazz bands, a few out-of-town marching bands and hopefully, the Marine Corps Marching Band. Traditionally, they have lead off our parade followed by the Captain and his 12 Riding Lieutenants on horseback. The mule-drawn King's float then follows, with all other floats carrying members, interspersed by bands.

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