The origins of Southern Decadence began over 35 years ago when a group of friends (a bohemian mixture of gays, straights, what have you), decided to have a going away party for one of their members, any excuse to dress up and have a party. Over the next few years they repeated this celebration with more and more people participating. Since this very humble beginning Southern Decadence has grown into one of the biggest celebrations in New Orleans hosting over one hundred thousand visitors each Labor Day weekend for the past several years.

Mardi Gras, of course, will have the most elaborate costumes and a greater number of participants, but when it comes to outrageous, over the top costuming, nothing can compare to Southern Decadence. There is no drag like radical New Orleans drag, and there is no greater gathering of folks celebrating the wild diversity of life and the joy of living than those participating in the Southern Decadence celebrations. Only in a city that truly embraces the saying "live and let live" are such things possible.

Over the years Southern Decadence has changed a great deal. The number of attendees has greatly increased forcing unfortunate but necessary changes to the festival. The Southern Decadence parade, which occurs on the Sunday before Labor Day and was once just a rowdy Krewe of drunken, costumed celebrants on a bar run through the French Quarter, must now, because of the large number of participants, have an official parade route that is submitted to the city authorities.

Some view Southern Decadence as just another circuit party, but fortunately there are still enough of the old guard in the Quarter to slow this development. The ever-growing presence of corporate sponsorships is taking away its local, home grown appeal, and I fear that greed and marketing will win out and the "official" corporate labeling of Southern Decadence will only get worse.