Any mention of New Orleans and famous Mardi Gras parades filled with giant, colorful floats moving down the streets of the city quickly comes to mind.
Ever wonder what those floats look like up close or what it takes to actually make one?
All can be answered and more at Mardi Gras World, an amazing working warehouse you can visit and tour while you’re at Groundwater Week 2025. Located along the Mississippi River, it is located next to the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.
You are awed when you enter the 300,000 square-foot facility. The floats are huge. Seeing parades on television or the internet does not fully translate the massive size of what navigates the streets of New Orleans every Mardi Gras season.
Touring the facility allows you to see what it takes to bring the floats to life as the warehouse is the home to an operating workshop that has created floats for Mardi Gras and other parades since 1947.
Winding through the studio, you are surrounded by floats from past parades and workshops where artists and architects are planning, sculpting, and building new floats from the ground up.
You’ll see giant court jesters, dragons, flowers, airplanes, cartoon characters, and nods to famous movies, musicians, and more. You’ll see every color you ever imagined. It is sensory overload in the most fun of ways.
And if you tune in to the news coverage of Mardi Gras next year, you might just see a float you walked by on your tour.
Groundwater Week 2025 takes place in New Orleans December 9-11 and is co-locating with the Irrigation Association. Register today at GroundwaterWeek.com, and when you’re there, make sure to experience Mardi Gras World.