When Mardi Gras 2027 Parades Actually Start: The January Schedule
The single most common planning mistake we see is booking a trip for Twelfth Night, 6 January, expecting floats and marching bands. Carnival does open that day. The parades you are picturing are still a month away.
Between the opening and Fat Tuesday on 9 February 2027 there is a long, quiet stretch, then a sudden ramp. Knowing the shape of it is the difference between a trip built around the parades and a trip that accidentally misses them.
6 January: Carnival opens, quietly
Twelfth Night is a real event, just not a float parade. Two things happen, both worth seeing if you are already in town:
- The Phunny Phorty Phellows ride the St. Charles streetcar in masks and declare the season open. No floats, no crowds to fight. It is a ritual.
- The Joan of Arc Parade walks through the French Quarter, medieval-themed, honouring a woman born on Twelfth Night. It is one of the very few processions that actually winds through the Quarter.
Both are small, warm, and local. Neither is what people mean when they say "Mardi Gras parade."
The quiet fortnight
From 7 January until roughly the third week of the month, essentially nothing parades. King cake appears in every bakery, balconies get their bunting, and the city gets on with January. If your dates fall here, you are visiting New Orleans in the off-season with decorations up.
This is genuinely a good time to visit on price. It is a bad time to visit for parades.
Late January: satire first
The season restarts with its rudest parade rather than its grandest.
Krewe du Vieux rolls small, hand-built, mule- and human-drawn floats through the Marigny and the French Quarter, with brass bands and satire aimed squarely at whoever deserves it that year. It is strictly adults. No costumed children, no family-friendly framing, and the throws are not the point.
Chewbacchus, the DIY sci-fi walking parade, falls somewhere in this same late-January window. Sources currently disagree on its 2027 date by two weeks, so we have left ours flagged as tentative rather than pick one.
The last weekend of January: the real start
This is where Carnival stops being a rumour. Over Friday 29 to Sunday 31 January, the neighbourhood and mid-size krewes begin rolling the Uptown route in sequence:
| Date | Parades | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 29 Jan | Cleopatra, Oshun | First real float parades, evening, manageable crowds |
| Sat 30 Jan | Pontchartrain, Freret | Daylight and early evening; the easiest family day of the month |
| Sun 31 Jan | King Arthur | Sunday afternoon on the Uptown route |
The Krewe of King Arthur was missing from this site until two readers flagged it. It is now on the schedule for Sunday 31 January. We have left the start time blank rather than guess, because the sources we can find disagree between 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm[3].
If you want the character of Mardi Gras without the density of the final week, this weekend is the most underrated stretch of the whole season.
Then February arrives
From the start of February the schedule thickens fast: Muses, Hermes, Iris, Tucks, Endymion, Bacchus, Proteus, Orpheus, then Zulu and Rex on Fat Tuesday itself, 9 February. That is a different kind of trip, and we have written it up separately in the 2027 dates and schedule guide.
Can I see a parade on 6 January 2027?
Yes, but not a float parade. The Phunny Phorty Phellows streetcar ride and the Joan of Arc walking parade both happen on Twelfth Night. The first float parades are three weeks later.
When is the first proper parade of Mardi Gras 2027?
Krewe du Vieux, expected Saturday 23 January 2027, is the first float parade, though it is adults-only satire. The first conventional Uptown parades follow on Friday 29 January.
Are these January dates confirmed?
No. The official 2027 schedule has not been released. We mark every parade as confirmed, expected or tentative on the schedule page and update it as krewes announce.
Is late January cheaper than Mardi Gras week?
Generally yes. Hotel rates climb steeply in the final ten days, and the last weekend of January gives you real parades without peak pricing.
Three questions, and we will tell you which parades fit your dates and who you are travelling with.
Build your 2027 parade days →Sources
More from the Dispatch
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