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 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 ...

parades in New Orleans. Mardi Gras World is located along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, next to the

New Orleans Morial Convention Center The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is located in Downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The lower end of building one is located upriver from Canal Street on the banks of the Mississippi River. It is named after former Mayor of N ...

. Their events venue, the River City Complex, also hosts festivals, weddings, private parties and corporate events.

History

In 1946, Blaine Kern, Sr. founded Blaine Kern Artists. Kern came from a family of float builders, but began creating floats after 1947, when a surgeon and

krewe A krewe (pronounced "crew") is a social organization that puts on a parade or ball for the Carnival season. The term is best known for its association with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but is also used in other Carnival celebrations ar ...

captain who had seen a mural by Kern hired him to create floats for the Krewe of Alla. Kern's business expanded from there. Kern, who traveled to Europe to learn float building techniques, has gained an international reputation in float building, with floats beyond New Orleans for Las Vegas, Mobile, Galveston, Montreal and the

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 ...

Mardi Gras parade. In 1984, Mardi Gras World was created as a tourist attraction to show visitors a behind-the-scenes look at float building. In 2008, Mardi Gras World expanded to a second facility, compared to the original facility in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, in the former

River City Casino River City Casino is a casino in Lemay, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. It opened on March 4, 2010. History Located in Lemay, Missouri, River City Casino is on the ...

In popular culture

Mardi Gras World has appeared on multiple seasons of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chef ...

''. During the finale of '' Top Chef: New York'', the five finalists arrived at Mardi Gras World to learn their elimination challenge from host

Padma Lakshmi Padma Parvati Lakshmi (; born September 1, 1970) is an Indian-born American author, activist, actress, model, philanthropist, and television host. She has hosted the cooking competition program ''Top Chef'' on Bravo continuously since season 2 ( ...

. In '' Top Chef: New Orleans'', the Algiers warehouse was the site of the season's kitchen, and the River City Complex was the site of a Halloween party hosted by

Lea Michele Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway (theatre), Broadway, appearing in productions of ''Les Misérables (musical), Les Misérab ...

. Mardi Gras World was the site of the final task of ''

The Amazing Race 32 ''The Amazing Race 32'' is the thirty-second season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two competing in a race around the world. The season premiered on CBS on October 14, 2020, and the sea ...

''.

References

External links

Mardi Gras World
official website {{Coord missing, New Orleans 1984 establishments in Louisiana Mardi Gras in New Orleans Tourist attractions in New Orleans

History

In popular culture

See also

References

External links