Mardi Gras Fountain

The Mardi Gras Fountain was created in 1962 from the inspiration of float builder Blaine Kern. Kern went to Europe several times during the 1950s where the fountains surrounded by sculptures gave him ideas for his own fountain. He came back to New Orleans and Orleans Levee Board President Gerald Gallinghouse approved the idea. The construction budget of the fountain was $42,000 and the architects at the Henry Gambill Firm designed it. There are nearly seventy ceramic plaques that picture the crests of the Carnival Krewes. Each plaque is about two feet tall. There are duplicate plaques that were installed at the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street. The Mardi Gras Fountain has a light and water show with thirty-foot-tall geysers illuminated in purple, green, and gold. This New Orleans landmark also made an appearance in the 1970 movie WUSA.

Visitors on several occasions would toss boxes of detergent into the fountain, possibly contributing to its mechanical problems. In the 1990s the fountain was turned off and the water would just sit and become stagnant. In May of 2005 the Orleans Levee Board hosted a ribbon cutting on 2.5 million-dollar repairs to the fountain and surrounding area, including the sidewalk, landscape, and the electrical and mechanical systems. They also replaced the Krewe plaques and added additional plaques for new Krewes that didn’t exist in 1962.

In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and changed the landscape of the area. In September of 2013, a 1.3-million-dollar donation from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers allowed the Orleans Levee District to once again make repairs to the fountain and refurbish the plaques. Lighting and mechanical issues were also addressed. They changed the utility systems to go over the levee instead of through it as it had previously done. Additionally, security has been added around the fountain to ensure no more visitors can throw detergent into the fountain.

Hardy, Arthur. Arthur Hardy: A few things you might not know about Mardi Gras Fountain on New Orleans’ lakefront, Nola.com. February 17th 2015. Accessed August 18th 2020. https://www.nola.com/news/article_91444bf4-6c15-513f-8359-8e604cb05aba.html.

Cutno, Kayla. Hear/Here: Royalty and tranquility at the Mardi Gras Fountain, ViaNolaVie. May 12th 2020. Accessed August 18th 2020. https://www.vianolavie.org/2020/05/12/hear-here-royalty-and-tranquility-at-the-mardi-gras-fountain/.