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Lafayette Parish getting ready for tomorrow’s big parades

Posted at 5:56 PM, Feb 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-22 19:22:33-05

The City of Carencro is getting ready for their parade tomorrow morning.

You can expect those barricades to block off the roads at 10 a.m.

Carencro Police Chief David Anderson said in order to make the parade family- friendly, they will have 70 officers from several law enforcement agencies.

This year, Chief Anderson said they will have a command post set up at Caysi Park in case any families get separated.

And in Lafayette, the Krewe of Carnivale en Rio will be rolling down the streets Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.

A lot goes on behind the scenes to make sure everyone can enjoy that parade.

“The crew brings in four 18-wheelers of beads,” said Rio’s float den director David Munnerlyn.

Thousands of dollars go into maintaining their 24 floats, and millions go into all the throws.

“We got footballs, we got light-up footballs, maracas,” said Munnerlyn. “As a member, you’ve purchased your beads. Your beads show up on your position on the float, whether it’s on the second floor, the first floor, the front, the rear; your beads will be set up right there for you.”

All the captains of the floats, like Munnerlyn, have to make sure everything on board is checked beforehand so they’re ready to roll on the big day.

“[I have to] make sure that my music system is up, make sure that my light system is clean and just making sure the bathroom is clean; that’s a very important thing,” he laughed. “Just making sure all the little details are done, so that on Saturday when we parade, all we have to do is enjoy and have a good time.”

The beads are stacked. The floats are ready, and Saturday morning, all 24 floats will convoy over from the float den in New Iberia to Pontiac Point in Lafayette where they’ll be ready for the parade to roll.

Whether you see the floats cruising down the highway or along the parade route, they’ll be there rain or shine.

“And, always remember: It’s never going to rain on our parade,” said the float den director.