Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana Mardi Gras Festival
Carnival arrives in New Roads in a shape that refuses to fit a single parade banner. The town sits on the banks of False River, and when Mardi Gras Day comes around, its streets fill twice over, with a morning procession and an afternoon procession rolling along the same ground hours apart. The sheet title names one festival, yet the record underneath it holds a season of separate parades and gatherings. There is a town that has kept Carnival alive for more than a century, and a set of parades that belong to different hands.
New Roads is the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, and its Carnival season carries a claim few towns outside New Orleans can match. The morning parade, run by the Community Center Carnival Club of Pointe Coupee, is described in a regional magazine layer as the oldest Carnival parade in the state after the New Orleans parades of Rex, Proteus and Zulu. The afternoon parade belongs to the New Roads Lions Club, a night parade belongs to the Krewe of Chemin Neuf, and Livonia holds its own parade through the Livonia Carnival Association.
About
The Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana Mardi Gras Festival is not one event under one name. The sheet title is never printed as an event name in the layers read, and the documented reality is the New Roads Mardi Gras season: a set of separate parades and events spread across the Carnival season in New Roads and Livonia. The Community Center Carnival, also printed as the Community Center of Pointe Coupee parade, is the morning procession on Mardi Gras Day. The New Roads Lions Club Parade is the afternoon procession on the same day.
New Roads is the host town and the parish seat. The parades roll through the heart of town beside False River. The Livonia parade takes place in Livonia, a separate community in the southern part of the parish, and it should not be confused with the New Roads parades even though it belongs to the same season.
There is no single organiser for the season. The Community Center Carnival Club of Pointe Coupee runs the morning parade, the New Roads Lions Club runs the afternoon parade, and the Krewe of Chemin Neuf runs its own night parade. The parades are street events. There is no gate, and no layer read states a price for watching from the route or a free status for entry, so this article takes no position on admission.
For a useful comparison, see the Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana Harvest on False River Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Host town | New Roads, the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish |
| Season | New Roads Mardi Gras, a season of separate parades |
| Morning parade | Community Center Carnival, run by the Community Center Carnival Club of Pointe Coupee |
| Afternoon parade | New Roads Lions Club Parade, run by the New Roads Lions Club |
| Night parade | Krewe of Chemin Neuf night parade |
| Southern parish parade | Livonia Carnival Association parade in Livonia |
| Mardi Gras Day 2025 | 4 March 2025, morning parade at ten in the morning, afternoon parade at one in the afternoon |
| Mardi Gras Day 2022 | 1 March 2022, morning parade at eleven in the morning, afternoon parade at two in the afternoon |
| Night parade | Friday 5 February 2027 at six in the evening |
| Setting | The streets of New Roads, on the banks of False River |
History
New Roads took its Carnival example from New Orleans, and the record reaches back a long way. A reference layer places Mardi Gras celebrations in New Roads as early as 1881, and the first known parade of floats in New Roads dates to 1897, giving the town a float-parade tradition stretching back more than a century.
The thread that runs unbroken to the present day begins in 1922. A regional magazine layer records that Mardi Gras has been celebrated consistently in New Roads since 1922, when the morning parade began. That morning parade is the ancestor of the present Community Center parade, and the Community Center parade has been known under that name since 1959. The morning parade therefore carries two histories at once: the long run of the procession itself, and the shorter life of the name under which it now rolls.
The morning parade’s standing is stated plainly in a regional magazine layer: it is the oldest Carnival parade in the state after the New Orleans parades of Rex, Proteus and Zulu. The afternoon parade has its own long history: on Mardi Gras Day in 2025, the Lions Club parade rolled for the eighty-second time, while the morning parade rolled for the one hundred fourth time.
No founding year for the season as a whole is stated in any layer read, and none is offered here. The record shows continuity across more than a century.
What to Expect
A Mardi Gras Day in New Roads is built around two parades and the hours between them. The morning parade sets out at ten in the morning in 2025, and in 2022 it set out at eleven in the morning from Rosenwald Elementary School. The afternoon parade follows at one in the afternoon in 2025, and at two in the afternoon in 2022.
The floats are lighted, and riders throw beads and trinkets to the crowd, while marching bands pass between the floats and local performances add music and movement to the street. The Krewe of Chemin Neuf night parade offers a different atmosphere: rolling at six in the evening, it turns the street into a river of light, with illuminated floats moving through the dark.
Visitors should expect a street, not a fairground. There are no stages to book and no grandstand to reserve, and the day is spent on foot, moving along the route or holding a chosen spot. The route is the whole venue, and the crowd’s closeness to the floats is what makes the day feel different from a fairground show.
Planning Your Visit
The first decision is which parade, or which combination of parades, to attend. Mardi Gras Day itself holds the two New Roads processions, morning and afternoon, and a visitor who arrives early can watch both from the same stretch of street. The night parade of the Krewe of Chemin Neuf falls on a separate evening, Friday 5 February 2027, so it needs its own plan.
Arrive early for the morning parade. The 2025 morning procession set out at ten in the morning, and the streets fill well before the first float appears. Chairs, blankets, and a bag for throws are the standard equipment, and families often stake out a kerb position hours ahead. A bag for throws keeps hands free for catching, and a small cushion makes a long morning on the kerb easier.
Parking and walking deserve thought. The parades close streets in the heart of New Roads, so a visitor should expect to park a little way from the route and walk in. Comfortable shoes matter, because the day involves standing and moving along the street.
Because the parades are street events, no ticket is needed to watch from the route, and no layer read states a price for doing so. Checking the current year’s start times before travelling is wise, since parade hours have shifted between years, as the 2022 and 2025 timetables show.
A Sample Itinerary
A visitor aiming to see the heart of the season could plan a Mardi Gras Day around the two New Roads parades. Arrive in New Roads before nine in the morning and walk to the route near Rosenwald Elementary School, where the morning parade begins. Find a kerb spot, settle in with chairs and a bag for throws, and watch the Community Center parade pass, noting the lighted floats and the marching bands.
Return to the route in good time for the afternoon parade, which in 2025 set out at one in the afternoon. The Lions Club procession brings a second round of floats, bands, and throws, and the crowd is often at its largest for this parade.
A second day could belong to the wider parish. Drive south to Livonia for its Sunday parade, a smaller and more local procession that shows the season beyond New Roads.
How It Compares
Set beside the great New Orleans Carnival, the New Roads season is small, local, and intimate. New Orleans fields dozens of krewes and parades across weeks, with enormous crowds and elaborate balls. New Roads fields a handful of parades, and the crowd is made up largely of parish residents and their guests.
Set beside a single-parade small town festival, the New Roads season is unusually rich. Two parades on Mardi Gras Day, a night parade on its own evening, and a separate parade in Livonia give the season a depth that a one-procession town cannot match. The morning parade’s claim to seniority, as the oldest in the state after Rex, Proteus and Zulu, adds a historical weight that few small towns can offer.
Compared with a ticketed festival on a fairground, the New Roads season is open and informal. The street is the venue, and the crowd gathers without gates or grandstands. The day is free-form, the visitor moves where the parades move, and the celebration belongs to the town rather than to a fenced ground.
Checklist
- Arrive before the morning parade sets out, and claim a kerb spot early.
- Bring chairs or a blanket, a bag for throws, and layers for changing weather.
- Wear comfortable shoes for standing and walking along the route.
- Plan for the gap between the morning and afternoon parades, and use it to eat.
- Check the current year’s start times before travelling, since hours have shifted between years.
- Park a little way from the route and walk in, as streets close for the parades.
- Take time to walk the False River waterfront before or after the parades.
- Remember that the Livonia parade and the night parade fall on separate days, and plan each one on its own.
Beyond the Parades
New Roads rewards a visitor who lingers. False River, the long oxbow lake beside the town, is the setting for much of parish life, and its banks offer a quiet walk away from the parade crowds. The town centre holds local shops and eateries that feed the parade crowds and serve the town through the year.
The wider parish holds its own interest. Livonia, in the southern part of Pointe Coupee Parish, is a separate community with its own parade and its own character, and a visit there shows the season from a different angle. The season also connects to the wider Louisiana Carnival tradition: New Roads followed the New Orleans example from the nineteenth century onward, and its parades still carry the forms that the city established, with krewes, floats, marching bands, and throws.
Why It Matters
The New Roads Mardi Gras season matters because it has lasted. A town that began celebrating Carnival in the nineteenth century, settled into a consistent pattern in 1922, and still rolls two parades on Mardi Gras Day more than a century later has kept a tradition alive through generations of change.
It matters, too, because the season is made by local hands. The Community Center Carnival Club of Pointe Coupee, the New Roads Lions Club, and the Krewe of Chemin Neuf are local groups, and the Livonia Carnival Association is a local group in the southern parish. Each parade is the work of people who live in the parish, and each one returns year after year because those people keep it going.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which parades make up the New Roads Carnival season?
The season is made of separate parades rather than a single event. The Community Center Carnival runs in the morning on Mardi Gras Day, the New Roads Lions Club Parade runs in the afternoon on the same day, the Krewe of Chemin Neuf runs a night parade on its own evening, and the Livonia Carnival Association runs a Sunday parade in Livonia, in southern Pointe Coupee Parish.
What time do the two Mardi Gras Day parades begin?
The start times have shifted between years, so the current year’s timetable should be checked before travelling. In 2025 the morning parade set out at ten in the morning and the afternoon parade at one in the afternoon. In 2022 the morning parade set out at eleven in the morning from Rosenwald Elementary School and the afternoon parade at two in the afternoon.
Why is the morning parade described as one of the oldest in Louisiana?
A regional magazine layer describes the Community Center parade as the oldest Carnival parade in the state after the New Orleans parades of Rex, Proteus and Zulu. The morning parade’s history reaches back to a consistent celebration in New Roads since 1922, and it rolled for the one hundred fourth time in 2025.
Is the Livonia parade part of the New Roads parades?
No. The Livonia parade is a separate event within the same season, run by the Livonia Carnival Association in Livonia, in southern Pointe Coupee Parish. The Lundi Gras gathering on Old River is likewise a separate event within the season, not the same parade as any of the New Roads processions.
What to Expect From the Next Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana Mardi Gras Festival
How often is Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana Mardi Gras Festival held?
The season returns with Carnival each year, centred on Mardi Gras Day, when the Community Center parade rolls in the morning and the New Roads Lions Club Parade rolls in the afternoon. The night parade of the Krewe of Chemin Neuf and the Livonia parade fall on their own dates within the same season, so the celebration spans more than a single day.
When is the next Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana Mardi Gras Festival?
The most recent dated Mardi Gras Day in the layers read is 4 March 2025, with the morning parade at ten in the morning and the afternoon parade at one in the afternoon. The Krewe of Chemin Neuf night parade is scheduled for Friday 5 February 2027 at six in the evening.
Will the dates change?
The dates follow the Carnival calendar, so Mardi Gras Day falls on a different date each year, and the start times of the parades have shifted between the years in the record, as the 2022 and 2025 timetables show. A visitor should check the current year’s dates and hours rather than relying on a previous year’s timetable.
The New Roads Mardi Gras season is best understood as a town keeping its own Carnival, parade by parade, year by year. A visitor who stands on the route in New Roads, chairs set out and bag ready for throws, is not watching a show put on for outsiders.
