Mardi Gras World

Mardi Gras World is the working warehouse and showroom of Blaine Kern Artists, the family-run float-building company responsible for creating the majority of New Orleans' famous Mardi Gras parade floats for over 70 years. Blaine Kern — often called 'Mr. Mardi Gras' — built his business into an empire, and this facility on the Mississippi riverfront is where you can actually step inside the machinery of the world's most famous party. It's not a museum in the traditional sense; it's an active den of fiberglass, papier-mâché, and paint where artisans are building the next season's floats while you wander around.

You get a guided tour through massive, hangar-like rooms packed with giant figures — kings, jesters, dragons, pop culture icons — some half-finished, some awaiting their next Carnival season, many towering two or three storeys above you. You learn how krewes commission floats, how the prop-makers sculpt and paint these enormous pieces, and what it takes logistically to stage parades involving hundreds of floats and thousands of riders. The tour typically runs about an hour and includes a King Cake tasting (at least during the Mardi Gras season) and a chance to dress up in Mardi Gras costumes for photos.

The facility sits right on the river at the Port of New Orleans, a short drive or ferry ride from the French Quarter. It's well-suited to visitors who want to understand New Orleans beyond the beads-and-bourbon-street surface level — this is the craft and culture underneath the spectacle. Go on a weekday if you can; groups are smaller and there's a decent chance you'll see artisans actually at work on new builds.