From left, Kristi Freeman and Auriel Butler, part of the Krewe of Unknown Divas, have fun at the location of their float with several children one day before the Grand Marais Mardi Gras Parade is set to roll. It’s been three years since Iberia Parish’s largest Mardi Gras parade rolled, mostly because of bad weather events. Today’s forecast is expected to be sunny and cold.

GRAND MARAIS — The Grand Marais Mardi Gras Association and the various krewes, clubs and organizations that ride in the Grand Marais Mardi Gras parade are gearing up for the first proper procession in three years.

Event organizer Tina Olivier said the whole town was excited, even with the cold weather.

“Mardi Gras is our Christmas,” Olivier said. “There’s only two words to describe it: family tradition.”

It’s a tradition that came to a halt about three years ago due to a series of weather-related cancellations. Last year, the parade had to roll in an informal manner with only family members riding trucks, making their way down icy roads. The previous two years saw no parade at all, putting a break in the association’s 36 years. Although the official organization, which Olivier calls the “mother” to the krewes, has been around 36 years, Olivier said the Grand Marais Mardi Gras tradition began about 70 years ago.

“The old people did it small. They’d get together, cook Mardi Gras Day and crowd amongst each other. When those little kids grew up, they made it a little bigger. Then they (the children’s children) made it a little bigger. We are so blown now. It is what it is. They start young, little bitty, and they do what you have to do. Every kid is brought into it.”

Some of the old school elements linger, organizer Angela Broussard said.

“It’s wonderful. Everybody can’t wait. Families get together, barbecue in the yard. People come from out of town. It’s a great event, especially with weather as pretty as it is.”

Before the costume contests, pageantry and regalia, it was a series of house parties that attendees needed to be invited to attend, Olivier said.

“You’d roll in the back of a truck. It i s just a party. There were no organizations. We all met at 10 a.m., get in your suit and we’re going to party.”

With the setbacks of recent years, Olivier bet the big crowds will be back to get a taste of the action they’ve been missing.

“A lot of people were upset that St. Martin didn’t have their parade,” Olivier said. “We have a lot of Grand Marais people who live in St. Martinville right now. They’re going to come to us to celebrate, so it’s like coming home to a parade.”

Adding to the excitement is the increase in participation.

“Well today (Monday) they are setting up the barricades along the parade route, and the people in the neighborhood are decorating their yards to get in the festive mood,” Broussard said. “Of course everybody is not having an official float. They are decorating their flatbed trucks or cars they intend to put in the parade. We’re waiting for tomorrow (Tuesday) to come.”

“You can almost taste it (the anticipation) in the community,” Olivier said. “Us not having one the last couple of years, we have gotten a lot more people involved. People that haven’t come to the dances are actually out there because they missed it (in previous years). It might be people only came to the parade.”

It’s also been three years since the krewe members of the Awesome Eight, The Unknowns, The Unknown Divas, The Wu Tang Krewe, Dew Drop Krewe, LDH, Blackout Krewe, Olivier Krewe and The Bedon Boys got to vie for the title of King and Queen in a nightly competitions at Mon Amis auditorium in Jeanerette.

“All weekend they battle, but the minute the kings and queens are finished, we’re brothers and sisters again,” Olivier said. We’re good. We are besties again. For the two months before that, we are divided. We don’t argue, but we do talk noise. ‘We waxin’ y’all this year,’ ‘We comin’ out,’ a lot of smack talking. It’s all in the fun of competition and who will get the next prize.”