Mardi Gras parade bands
Founded in 1937, while America suffered through the Great Depression, a group of New Orleans businessman met to come up with a solution to the widespread woes of the time, a solution that only New Orleanians could come up with: throwing a party. In 2005, the members of Hermes faced devastation and despair, the likes that hadn’t been felt in New Orleans since the Great Depression. Refusing to let the storm stop them, Hermes was one of the first Carnival Clubs to re-organize after Hurricane Katrina. The Krewe of Hermes take their name from the Greek mythos of the winged courier of the gods. The Knights of Hermes distinguished their inaugural parade as the first to use neon lighting for its floats in 1938 and, as per tradition, the Hermes' captain leads the procession in full regalia on a white horse. Today, the Krewe of Hermes parades through Uptown with nearly 700 male riders.