Mardi Gras celebration brings color, cheer to overcast Forestville

Hundreds of people mingled beneath bare oak trees Saturday afternoon, the colors of their beads and costumes vibrant against the gray February sky in Forestville.

They carried plates of gumbo and chatted with neighbors as kids ran underfoot and a local New Orleans-style brass band jammed on a stage in the background.

Three days ahead of the official holiday, locals were brought together at the start of West County Trail for the Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever Mardi Gras celebration.

It was so successful chamber president Wendy Flowers said she expects it won’t be the community’s last outing for Mardi Gras, which refers to events of the Carnival celebration prior to Ash Wednesday.

Beginning at 1 p.m., the party brought about 300 people out. Many of them were still there less than an hour before the event’s end at 4 p.m.

“We have run out of liquor and there are food lines galore,” Flowers said. “There’s a lot of people really enjoying themselves.”

Some wore COVID-19 face coverings and others donned ornate Carnival masks around the outdoor venue. Partygoers were decked out in layers of gold, purple and green plastic beads or sported colorful shirts and hats.

A large crowd listened to the performance of Forestville’s six-member Bourbon Street Brass Band, though few danced to the tunes. Saucy Mama’s Soul Food and Bayou on the Bay served up Cajun cuisine, while the chamber mixed Hurricane cocktails at its beer and wine booth.

The festivities provided welcome warmth and entertainment for the small west county community halfway through winter and at the tail end of another surge in COVID-19 cases locally and worldwide.

That was the goal of the event, Flowers said, “to bring the community together, because nobody has been able to do anything for so long. Now that omicron is down, we just wanted to get people together.”

“This is our first — we wanted to see how it went, and it went so well that I think we’re going to do it again,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.