By By Adrienne McKenzie
Citizens and guests of Atmore lined the streets of the city Saturday morning awaiting beads, candy and moon pies at the annual Ladies of Essence Mardi Gras Parade.
The weather was perfect, the sky was blue and there was a nice breeze flowing throughout the town. It was an ideal day to celebrate the festivities of Mardi Gras.
Brenda Watkins, president of Ladies of Essence and parade organizer, felt that the parade was a hit.
"It was a good parade," Watkins said. "It went very well."
Watkins also said that the parade was larger than past parades the Ladies of Essence have hosted.
"It was a little larger than usual," Watkins said. "We had the most floats we have ever had in the parade. It was a very large parade. It is definitely growing."
The parade consisted of several different floats, one in particular decorated by the Ladies of Essence. Watkins said that in the past few years they have borrowed a bus from Pensacola, Fla., but that this year the Ladies decided to decorate their own float. The Ladies' float consisted of their colors, purple and gold along with a traditional Mardi Gras staple, green. The women appeared to have a great time as they drove by waving and throwing candy to the crowds.
Mayor Howard Shell and city councilmen Louie Turner III and John Watkins were also participants of the parade.
Poarch Volunteer Fire Department had one of their fire trucks in the parade with citizens dressed in Native American regalia throwing fun Mardi Gras paraphernalia. Atmore Fire and Rescue also partook in the Mardi Gras madness. Onlookers also got to view people horseback riding down the streets of Atmore.
The Mardi Gras mood was apparent with the squeals of excitement coming from people of all ages as they caught massive amounts of beads and traditional Mardi Gras moon pies. Some floats even threw items such as Mardi Gras cups and frisbees.
Watkins is looking forward to next year's Mardi Gras season, especially with the size of the parade growing each year.
"Maybe next year it will be even bigger," she said.