Mardi Gras warmup on a sunny afternoon

It can be hard to organize a one-float parade, even if you've been organized since 1890. Just sayin'

What the hell just happened?

Buzzard Queen and Royal Court
The wagon provides music as well
as nourishment for the marchers

Stan and Birdie were relaxing in their front yard on a sunny day, minding their own business at the corner of Constance and Webster, when they heard police sirens and horns off in the distance. Then, out of nowhere, two of New Orleans' finest arrived on rumbling police motorcycles to block off the intersection.
Stunned, Stan gathered his senses, climbed out of the lawn chair, opened the camera and leaned over the fence. By now an American flag and loud music was approaching. The flag bearer wore sneakers, a ruffled satin open-back dress and full-figure falsies. Which would be fine, but Old Glory was definitely being waved by a man.
Surprise! It's the Jefferson City Buzzards, est. 1890.

Don't you just hate it when you have to
stop in the middle of a parade to
adjust your brassiere?

We didn't get the memo.
The Buzzards, it would seem, is an elite krewe of muddy cross-dressers who parade around on Sunday afternoons in lipstick and beads, marching, yelling and drinking something through a straw. About 100 of these gentlemen surrounded a rustic wooden float -- mounted with speakers and pulled by an ancient Farmall tractor -- and sallied past our vantage point today. Quicker than you could say "Jack Daniels," the parade was over.

Their only unified message, shouted over the recorded din, seemed to be "Buzzards Forever!" or something like that.

Buzzards Forever!

It is difficult at times for a Northern boy, unaccustomed to overwrought exuberance on a Sunday afternoon, to comprehend such enthusiasm, and worse, Kathleen was away at the convenience store for ice cream and now he would have to somehow explain to her what she had missed.
Not to worry. The Buzzards route took a Louie off Magazine Street and Kathleen got a full dose of Nancy and his pals. Our novitiate was presented with a bright paper flower, which she proudly carried home with the ice cream bars.
For the record, she was not required to flaunt anything to earn it.

You can't run a manly Farmall tractor while wearing a dress.