Zeus calls its doubloons "drachmas" and
always employs a Greek motify for its parades and Masqued balls.
the Krewe of Zeus History
The Krewe of Zeus Founded in 1958 and named for the loftiest deity on Mount Olympus and the Ruler of All Gods in Ancient Greece, the Krewe of Zeus presented the first night time parade ever held in a suburb of New Orleans. Zeus is known to be the Krewe that began the grand Metairie Parade tradition. It was also the first to provide reviewing stands for special children.
The Krewe of Zeus is the oldest parading organization in Metairie, having been founded in 1957 making their 2013 parade their 57th Mardi Gras Production. The beginnings of this all male club is interesting, to say the least. A group of six businessmen, while partying at Gennaro’s bar on Metairie Road, decided that it was time for Metairie to have its own carnival parade.
KREWE OF ZEUS ROUTE
KREWE OF ZEUS ROUTE
The discussion then centered around who would be Captain, King and other Officers of the Club. Unable to reach a decision voluntarily, they rolled dice to choose their first leaders. Businessman, Bill Dwyer, won the roll of the dice and reigned as the first King. And so, with rented costumes and rented floats and led by search lights in the sky, Zeus staged its first parade in 1957. The parade was some five and one-half hours in duration because they felt it their duty to stop and toast at every drinking establishment along Metairie Road. But with the years, Zeus has changed and has become the leading carnival parade in Jefferson Parish that lives up to its motto “Second to None”
About the DVD The first Mardi Gras in America was celebrated in Mobile, Alabama in 1703. In 2007, it is still racially segregated. Filmmaker Margaret Brown (Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt), herself a daughter of Mobile, escorts us into the parallel hearts of the city s two carnivals. With unprecedented access, she traces the exotic world of secret mystic societies and centuries-old traditions and pageantry; diamond-encrusted crowns, voluminous, hand-sewn gowns, surreal masks and enormous paper mache floats. Against this opulent backdrop, she uncovers a tangled web of historical violence and power dynamics, elusive forces that keep this hallowed tradition organized along enduring color lines.
