Mardi Gras season means many things to many people. This weekend, the festivities focus on family, fun, and furry friends—a wholesome interlude before next weekend’s Grand Parade.
Saturday morning starts with the Missouri Lottery 5K Run for Your Beads—though don’t expect to set any personal bests at this race, where costumes are encouraged and the pit stops have beer and hurricanes instead of trail mix and Gatorade. On Saturday and Sunday, come hungry for the Taste of Soulard. And let Sunday go to the dogs, with the Purina Pet Parade and Tito’s Vodka Weiner Dog Derby.
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“First of all, it’s great to be back!” says Mardi Gras Foundation president Mack Bradley. “This has been a really rough two years for all of us, but everybody knows it’s been very rough for people in the restaurant business. Taste of Soulard is a huge weekend for them.”
For $35, visitors receive a drink voucher and six food vouchers, which they can use as they see fit on a self-guided tour of the neighborhood. (Think New Orleans in terms of the flavors.) On Saturday, trolleys from Horseshoe Saint Louis casino can tote you from spot to spot. Taste of Soulard runs from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The weather forecast looks fabulous—though it’s kind of wasted on the pooches during Sunday’s Pet Parade and Weiner Dog Derby. “They bring their own coats, and it’s still warm,” says Bradley. (Some pets do also wear costumes, though.)
Both the pet parade and wiener dog derby are record holders in the Guinness Book of World Records: The 29th annual pet parade boasts the largest number of costumed dogs in one place in the world, and the wiener dog derby is the longest-running wiener dog race in the world. (The ever-ambitious Bradley has his sights set on the world title for that one, too.)
For a $10 donation, pet owners can enter their favorite creatures in the Purina Pet Parade. The stakes are high—winners will be invited to join the Court of the Mystical Krewe of Barkus and can attend the Coronation Pageant, where the King and Queen of Barkus will be crowned. Registration starts at 10 a.m. The parade then begins at 12th and Allen at 1 p.m. The proceeds benefit Open Door Animal Sanctuary.
Then cue the training montage of your favorite wiener dog: lifting weights, doing crunches, triumphantly raising its paws atop the Rocky steps. Registered dachshunds will compete in heats of six during the Tito’s Vodka Wiener Dog Derby, which will be sorted by age and size. It’s free to watch or $10 to enter. The first heat starts at 2 p.m.
