GULF SHORES — After holding it’s Mardi Gras parade on East Beach Road for a few years and receiving backlash after last year’s low-participation parade, the route will return to Hwy. 59 for 2026.

The parade will be held at the same time, 10 a.m. on Fat Tuesday, which is Feb. 17 this year.

Grant Brown, Gulf Shores’ recreation and cultural affairs director, said at the Jan. 5 council meeting that the route will start at Clubhouse Drive and end at The Hangout, where Hwy. 59 meets the beach.

For this year’s parade, the city reduced the entry fee to $25 to encourage more organizations and community groups to take part in the parade. As previously reported by GCM, Brigette Reynolds, programs and events manager for Gulf Shores, said the 2025 parade had 15 entries. The cost to enter was $100, which had “been the same for 20 years.”

Many of the 150-plus residents and parade attendees who commented on Gulf Shores’ Facebook post following the 2025 parade suggested the city return the original route and lower the prices on entry and insurance fees.

“We also want to make it easier for revelers to participate in the parade,” Brown said. “Last year, we had a fantastic parade, albeit short, and we want to make sure that we get more participants that actually want to participate in the parade.”

Applications to participate are now open on the city’s website at www.gulfshoresal.gov.

“You need three things of a parade: you need people in the parade; you need spectators; and you need the route, and we think we’ve got all those,” Brown said. “Now, we just need the people to jump in and help us participate.”