Last Updated on 5/24/2013

Published on 2/13/2013

 
The event was so much fun we can only hope it will prove to be Georgetown’s inaugural Mardi Gras parade. The Fat Tuesday procession hit Front Street sidewalks at 12:30 sharp.
After a couple of rainy days, it was heartening when sunshine broke through clouds and delivered a burst of courage and excitement just minutes before the parade began.
Mardi Gras King Kevin Jayroe and Queen Rachel Wildes led the first procession – another was scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Mardi Gras royalty was followed by the S.C. Maritime Museum’s Krewe of Chèvre, an homage to the Museum’s four legged mascot, a goat, as well as a troupe of friends and supporters decked to the nines in appropriate attire.
Masks, boas, beads, balloons and feathers – and an ongoing chorus of “When the Saints Go Marching In” – transformed the relatively small procession into a formidable troupe.
The parade left the Maritime Museum (where Broad Street intersects Front Street) and took a hard right.
Participants strolled a three block route in Georgetown’s Historic Business District between Broad and King.
Then the parade took a right through the Lowcountry Herb Society Garden separating the Rice Museum and Thomas Café, ambled back up the Harborwalk for six blocks or more before circling around to Front Street and home to the Museum.
Onlookers cheered – including residents, guests and staff who spilled onto the sidewalk from local businesses.
Puppies from St. Frances Animal Center wore fancy collars, bells and beads. The mood was exactly as hoped, both festive and fun.
For more information about the S.C. Maritime Museum, the newest feather in Georgetown’s historical cap, please contact Susan Sanders at the S.C. Maritime Museum at 843-520-0111. There’s lots of detail at www.scmaritimemuseum.org.
Everyone is encouraged to stop by the Museum at 729 Front Street – just across Francis Marion Park from River Room Restaurant.

By Kimberly Duncan
For The Times