Mardi Gras, elementary-school style, comes to Little Rock

Students at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, Feb. 24, with a Mardi Gras parade and carnival.
Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students led a parade around the campus with decorated wagons and tossed beads, candy and coins to the crowd (photo above).
Two representatives from each grade did a Second-Line Dance with decorated umbrellas. The remaining students also caught the spirit by wearing clothing, masks and hats in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of green, yellow and purple.
The king of the parade was J.C. Mayfield, the parish and school maintenance supervisor. The Catholic High School Jazz Band also performed.
After the parade, the student body participated in a carnival on the playground.
“It’s organized chaos. That’s what we like to call it,” principal Illeana Dobbins said. “But it’s a lot of fun.”