The Gulf Shores Mardi Gras parade has a new route through town and city officials hope it will have less impact on residents.
Gulf Shores Recreation and Cultural Affairs Director Grant Brown presented an application for public assembly for the 2022 Mardi Gras Parade scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on Fat Tuesday, March 1. The application included details on a new parade route.
In years past, the parade used Highway 59 causing the closure of a vital road through Gulf Shores. A team of city officials from public works, police, fire, city council and special events departments worked together to find a route with fewer conflicts.
"We feel like it has come to the point where Highway 59 has just so much conflicting traffic and it's so difficult with no alternate route to safely close Highway 59 down and get people to help if they need help. Not to mention there are people who don't necessarily want to be inconvenienced by the Mardi Gras parade and are trying to get to and from their homes on Fort Morgan or wherever they are trying to go down to west beach," Brown said.
Floats will be staged along West Beach Boulevard near the Gulf Place Public Beach area and the starting point of the parade will be the intersection of Highway 59 and East Beach Boulevard. The parade will move east down Beach Boulevard and end at the Gulf State Park Pier Road. Floats can continue toward Orange Beach to join the Orange Beach Mardi Gras Parade or circle back through Gulf State Park.
The city has also worked to put safety precautions in place to ensure the safety of parade-goers and parade participants. Barricades will be placed along the entire parade route and police will monitor access points. There is no designated parking area but there are several public parking areas and public rights of way.
"We feel like we have a good plan in place and have worked hard to develop what we feel is a good safe route and people will have a good opportunity to view a parade," Brown said.
The council voted unanimously to approve the public assembly permit and the new route during the Jan. 10 city council meeting.