Fat Saturday in Fayetteville

By Marin McGrath

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.— On Saturday Feb. 20, families and college students alike patiently awaited the floats and attractions that the Fat Saturday Parade of Fools has to offer. No one seemed to mind the chill in the air and the cloudy sky, they were there for an entertaining time.

It’s been 30 years since the first Fayetteville Mardi Gras celebration and the city celebrated the anniversary accordingly this year with a parade open to the community.

The line of decorated cars, roller skaters, and dogs began in the Fayetteville Downtown Square. It ended with Dickson Street adorned with beads as well as boas.

A typical Mardi Gras celebration takes place the day before “Ash Wednesday,” the beginning of the religious tradition of Lent. The biggest parties and events tend to take place in New Orleans, according to the Library of Congress.

“We took (the event) from a Tuesday night pub-crawl to a family event that everyone can enjoy on a Saturday afternoon,” Chaddie Platt, head of media inquiries for the parade, said. “It just makes it more accessible.”

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s Marching Musical Machine of the Midsouth. Photo by Marin McGrath.

A big part of the city is not only locals, it is the University of Arkansas students. In the Fayetteville Parade of Fools, students are encouraged to join and volunteer in any way in the years to come, Platt said.

“We would encourage next year for any kind of group, whether it be the greek crowd or people who have a Facebook group together, it’s really fun, team-building and creative to build these floats,” Platt said. “We’d really like to encourage people to enter next year.”

For Fayetteville, the party is not the only thing on event planners’ minds, there is also a charitable aspect to the parade, Platt said.

Each year the royalty is voted on by the board and the king or queen gets to choose their partner as well as a charity to support.

This year’s queen, Michelle Hale, picked the Peace at Home Family Shelter, a nonprofit domestic violence shelter for families in NWA.

“Our community’s system doesn’t provide enough support for domestic violence and this shelter does that,” Hale said. “That’s why I chose them.”

Hale said that an important part of the parade to her was bringing awareness to the charitable aspect along with community involvement.

The Peace at Home organization was presented with a check for $2,500 in donations, Platt said.

“That big, fat check, that was very gratifying,” Platt said.

Aside from the royalty, there are many other ways people from the community participate in the parade itself and one of the more popular ways is entering in a group called a “Krewe.” The groups consist of sponsors, businesses, and locals who create floats and perform throughout the day.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan and Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Good on Fayetteville FD truck. Photo by Marin McGrath.

“It is, perhaps above all else, our mission to promote the idea that it is better than alright to have some fun in life. To costume & sing and dance is a time honored part of the celebration of life itself and nothing to be feared,” the Committee for Mardi Gras Inc. says in their mission statement.

The parade provides a family friendly alternative to a holiday notoriously known for being a day of partying. In a town such as Fayetteville, the more the family can be involved the better.