Hello everyone! I'm still here
in Lake Charles, Louisiana
and today is the most anticipated day
of Mardi Gras. It's Mardi Gras itself!
Fat Tuesday! Happy Mardi Gras!
And here's the warm-up for the evening. We're at a brewery. This is the Crying Eagle Brewing
It opened less than two years ago and the first one actually in Lake Charles
We're having a tour
It took me about five years and I read hundreds of books, ok? Because I didn't brew beer
I never have brewed beer, okay, but I did know business
and so I knew that you can learn anything for a lot of books and
touring the world and that's what I did
There was just this world of beer out there that represented so much more
than just, you know, a beverage. You know? Craft beer and the breweries
that make them often represent their local communities, they represent their
states and some of them represent our entire countries by
distributing overseas now
So, we have this guy, here, that makes quite a bit of beer
Recently, we just opened our restaurant
Pizza!
I started traveling to different breweries and truly fell in love with them, okay? Because
again, not only were they epicenters for art and culture but they were also places you
could go, and it didn't matter whether you are black, whether you're white,
whether you're gay, whether you're straight, whether you make a lot of money, whether you make no money,
tatted up... Whatever political beliefs you were
it was just everybody kind of gathered together, it was just like all unified
under a single pint of beer
Thank you!
I'm here with my Mardi Gras outfit again as there will be more parades soon
Happy Mardi Gras!
Mardi Gras is a holiday here in Lake Charles, so this is the tradition
People started gathering here earlier, you know? Waiting for the big parade
Some people come to restaurants, some other people shut down restaurants
to do their private parties, some other people come and tailgate
like those guys are doing over there
Here we're just waiting for the big moment
The main parade here is called Krewe of Krewes
It's coming!
This is the big event to close the Mardi Gras' celebrations
I like your idea! That's smart!
The Krewe of Krewes parade joins all Mardi Gras krewes in Lake Charles
Krewe = organization that puts on a parade or ball for the carnival season
150,000 people come here to Lake Charles every year for Mardi Gras
This is twice the population of the city
This is the culmination of Mardi Gras in Lake Charles
Mardi Gras!
Mardi Gras in Lake Charles was so fun and it's very unique, very different from
other Mardi Gras celebrations around the world
People here make it really special, you know?
They're so welcoming, so happy to have you here
So I would certainly be back for more
It was lovely to see!
How heavy is this?
Right about this time, if I had to chose, literally this is about an extra 10 pounds
Then what's on my arm
it's probably about another 5 pounds
And if I would stay and pick up all the ones you see on the ground
I kid you not when I'm telling you it gets up to be 30 pounds worth of beads
This is how I close my Mardi Gras here in Lake Charles
Every year the Convention and Visitor's Bureau invites journalists to come here
and experience Mardi Gras, and this time I'm so happy that I was part of the group
So thank you guys! And I'm sure you guys liked it too is I got a lot of
messages on social media of people asking to see more. So there you go!
Five videos here in Lake Charles! Now if this is the first one that you see
go back and watch the others, it's a lot of fun stuff too
Ok, I'm ready, I'm ready
I had to register this... I can't believe the kids wanted a picture with me
And so did him!
Turn up Lake Charles!
Ladies and gentlemen, come down and experience Mardi Gras!