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The Mystic Krewe of Barkus Beggin’ Pet Parade is a vision, indeed. A fine place to watch animals (almost exclusively coming in the form of dogs) and people, too. Depending on how observant you are, you might run into any and every kind of St. Louis. A few ex-pats, too.
Yesterday, Tony LaRussa served as the Grand Marshall of the Beggin’ Pet Parade, now a few years removed from his job as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Fans haven’t exactly forgotten him. While duncing along the block, I heard the cry of “Tony, Tony,” and looked over to my right, where LaRussa had emerged atop the lead vehicle. A strong-voiced yelled “show us the rings” and, like that!, LaRussa offered a double-fisted gesture, showing a couple handfuls of bling to the cheering, photo-snapping audience. So there was that.
Most attendees at the now-22-year-old parade, though, aren’t local baseball royalty. They’re average folks with a more-than-average interest in their dogs. And once a year that enthusiasm means dressing the dogs up in capes or rolling them down the street in shopping carts.
The parade rolled only a few blocks, through some of the key Mardi Gras intersections, like 12th and Allen and Russell and 12th. Parade sightseers called out for beads, thrown out liberally by the paraders. Those in the march varied in their approach; half, perhaps, were dressed pretty much as-is, with a relatively low-key factor of dress, both for themselves and their pets. The rest varied it up, from full-on green-and-purple Mardi Gras regalia to specialty gear, with sharks, superheroes and dye-jobs all popular in 2015.
For someone who’d never been to the event, it’s now one, more, key item removed from that mildly flexible list of “things you do in St. Louis.” It was a tad overwhelming, really. So many dogs! So many people! So many children yelling out for beads!
This time out it was enough to walk along the parade route, running into a few friends and not running into any awkward caught-up-in-leash moments (though one of those did threaten). It was a scene, carried out on maybe the most-glorious day in the history of Februarys in St. Louis. It was also a marker, the real, true signal call that Mardi Gras season is very much upon us.
