Kern Studios is a float building and entertainment design production company based in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, USA. The studio creates large floats for events like

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "Fat ...

in addition to props and themed environments for theme parks, casinos, and corporate entities.

History

A family-run company, Kern Studios dates back to 1932, when Roy Kern an artist who became a sign painter built his first Mardi Gras Float with the help of his young son, Blaine. In 1947, Blaine founded Blaine Kern Artists and began a float-building career and created the most prolific float building company in the world building floats for the New Orleans

. Kern traveled to Europe to learn more about float building, since gaining an international reputation while designing, building and producing floats, parades, festivals, events and theming for theme parks, museums, sports teams and municipalities worldwide. In 1984, Kern Studios expanded to include

Mardi Gras World Mardi Gras World (also known as Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, MGW) is a tourist attraction located in New Orleans. Guests tour the 300,000 square foot working warehouse where floats are made for Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. Mardi Gras World ...

, a tourist attraction where visitors can see behind-the-scenes of Kern Studios. Barry Kern is the current president and CEO of Kern Studios and Mardi Gras World.

Mardi Gras

Kern Studios is responsible for building Mardi Gras floats used by a variety of New Orleans Mardi Gras krewes each year. It was creating over 300 floats by the 1970s and over 400 floats by the 2010s. The company consistently creates floats for

Krewe of Orpheus The Krewe of Orpheus is a New Orleans Mardi Gras super krewe and social organization. History and Formation Orpheus is a musically themed krewe taking its name from Orpheus of Classical mythology. The Krewe of Orpheus was founded by Harry Con ...

Endymion Endymion primarily refers to: * Endymion (mythology), an Ancient Greek shepherd * ''Endymion'' (poem), by John Keats Endymion may also refer to: Fictional characters * Prince Endymion, a character in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime franchise * Raul ...

, Rex parade, Krewe of Muses,

Krewe of Bacchus Krewe of Bacchus is a New Orleans Mardi Gras super krewe. History and formation The Krewe of Bacchus is an organization founded in 1968 by Owen Brennan, Jr. as one of the first modern "superkrewes," defined by their size, spectacular floats, an ...

, and Krewe of Tucks in addition to several other krewes. The studio also builds floats for Krewe of Boo, New Orleans’ official Halloween krewe.

Corporate Designs

Kern Studios has created themed environments for Harrah's Casinos, including both interior and exterior décor. The Walt Disney Company and

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

are two notable clients for Kern Studios, whose work has been displayed at Disney locations in Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong and Universal Studios locations in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, Orlando, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Kern Studios has also created large-scale artwork for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

;

Chick-Fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Coll ...

; Mars, Incorporated;

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

, Six Flags; Everland; and the National Football League. In 2010, Kern Studios produced the Saints Super Bowl parade and kickoff parade for Super Bowl XLIV.

References

{{reflist Entertainment companies established in 1947 Companies based in New Orleans Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1947 establishments in Louisiana