Through The Years
Bacchus Through the Years!
Click on the year you would like and be transported to Bacchus of that year!
The Sixties
The Stage is Set and Traditions are Broken
Remember When...
The 1960s was the decade of complex interrelationships between culture and politics. It was the decade of civil disobedience, civil rights, the counter-culture, the cold war, the Great Society, bell bottoms, paisley, and long hair. It was the decade of the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, China’s cultural revolution, anti-war demonstrations, skyrocketing urban crime, and the Kennedy assassinations. It was the decade that Motown was founded and the Rolling Stones. The Supremes and the Beatles were topping the music charts. It was Woodstock, Star Trek, I Dream of Jeannie, and Hurricane Betsy. In New Orleans, Vic Schiro was mayor, John McKeithen was governor, and New Orleans celebrated its 250th birthday in 1968. Hippies camped in Jackson Square and barbequed on Sewerage and Water Board meter covers. There were anti-war demonstrations on local college campuses and civil rights demonstrations on the streets of New Orleans. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison tried local businessman Clay Shaw for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. At Jazz Fest ‘68, held at the Municipal Auditorium, Pete Fountain, Duke Ellington, the Ramsey Lewis Trio, and Louis Armstrong played. It would be Armstrong’s last performance in New Orleans and his final song was “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Among the city’s capital improvements in 1968 were the construction of Interstate 10, Spanish Plaza, and new buildings for the Sara Mayo and Hotel Dieu hospitals. The Rivergate Convention facility and the International Trade Mart Buildings were dedicated, as was a new police headquarters, and the second span of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridge. At New Orleans’s Michoud Assembly Facility Saturn 1B rockets which lifted Apollos seven and eight into space, were fabricated. For the 1968 Carnival season, there were 23 parades in the metro area, two of which were cancelled due to freezing rains.
The Seventies
Long standing traditions take a new form with the birth of Bacchus
Remember When...
The decade of the 1970s continued much of the social turmoil of the previous decade with struggles for equality and war protests. However, the liberalism of the sixties began to give way to the silent majority’s conservatism. It was the decade that saw America’s bicentennial, fledging technological and environmental revolutions, and an oil embargo. On television Americans were watching Ironside, Bonanza, and The Brady Bunch.
In New Orleans, Carnival krewes increased in number, size and inclusivity, due much in part to Bacchus’s groundbreaking efforts. The decade of the 1970s saw New Orleans host its first Super Bowl and the King Tut exhibit, construct One Shell Square and Piazza d’Italia, elect its first African American mayor, and survive a police strike which cancelled Carnival parades in Orleans parish. During the decade, Bacchus themes celebrated Mardi Gras, movies, the comics, the circus, the undersea world, horror stories, the nation’s bicentennial, and the krewe’s 10th birthday. Celebrity monarchs included comedians, actors, musicians, and an announcer. The club also introduced the first of its menagerie of floats, the “Kongs” and the “Bacchasaurus.” Logo beads and cups also debuted.
1979
The Eighties
Bacchus celebrates its 15th and 20th anniversaries and introduces
Carnival’s first tandem float and a new Captain.
Remember When...
New Orleans during the 1980s hosted a World’s Fair, the Pope, the Sun King Exhibit, and the Republican National Convention. Christmas in the Oaks and French Quarter Fest were born, and the Cabildo burned. Elsewhere, Prince Charles married Diana Spencer, the space shuttle exploded, Mount St. Helens erupted, the Chernobyl nuclear plant melted, the Berlin wall came down while USA Today and CNN were launched.
For the 1980s Bacchus’s monarchs included actors, comedians, a musician, an announcer, and a Marine. Bacchus also celebrated its 15th and 20th anniversaries during the decade. Parade themes ran the gamut from the Old Testament, to songs from the zodiac, to wine from world rivers, to New Orleans. During this time a new Krewe Captain was selected and Mardi Gras’s first tandem float—the “Bacchagator”—hit the streets.
The Nineties
Bacchus Ends The Century
Remember When...
The last decade of the century saw the launch of the Hubble space telescope and the world wide web, the Gulf War, the Branch Davidians standoff in Waco, Texas, the Oklahoma City bombing, O. J. Simpson’s acquittal, and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Friends, Seinfeld and ER debuted on television and Pulp Fiction and Silence of the Lambs debuted at the movies. In New Orleans, the Aquarium of the Americas, the Bayou Sauvage Refuge, and Harrah’s Casino opened, the Essence Festival and Voodoo Fest premiered, and the May 8 flood inundated the city. Bacchus celebrated its 25th and 30th anniversaries, moved its Rendezvous to the Convention Center and introduced the “Bacchawhoppa” float. The Krewe could look back with pride on its revolutionary approach to Carnival and its broadening of the inclusiveness of Carnival. During the 1990s Bacchus was personified by actors, comedians, a musician, and a spokesperson and also had its second monarch abdicate.
1999
THE 2000s
A New Century
Remember When...
The first decade of the 21st century was defined by tweets, bailouts, blogs, Google, WMDs, and 9-11. There were wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on terrorism. America elected its first African American president, Princess Diana and Saddam Hussein were killed, and the Patriot Act was passed. Popular TV shows included American Idol, The Apprentice, Big Brother, Glee, Desperate Housewives, The Sopranos, The West Wing, House, and Mad Men. On the big screen Lord of the Rings, The Passion of Christ, Brokeback Mountain, Shrek, Spiderman, Avatar, and Slumdog Millionaire drew record crowds. The bicentennial of the Louisiana statehood was celebrated. The new century in New Orleans saw the opening of the Ogden Museum and the Audubon Insectarium, and the first New Orleans Bowl. In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated most of the city. And the Krewe of Bacchus featured actors, a comedian, a television host, a wrestler, a superhero, and a TV gangster as its celebrity monarchs. Bacchus added to its signature floats the “Bacchatality” and “Baccha-Amore,” celebrated 40 years of parading, and introduced the first lighted riders’ costume.
2009
THE 2010s
Krewe's Golden Anniversary
Remember When...
The second decade of the 21st century saw the Arab Spring, Osama Bin Laden killed, the Louisiana floods, Ebola and Zika epidemics, and the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series. New Orleans celebrated the bicentennial of Louisiana’s statehood, the Battle of New Orleans bicentennial, the Saints winning the Super Bowl, and New Orleans’s tricentennial. At the head of its parade, Bacchus featured actors, a comedian, a quarterback, and a superhero. The Krewe elected a new Captain for its leadership. For the first and only time the traditional King’s float was not used. The “Bacchachariot” and the “Bacchaneers” floats debuted, the Kong family was reworked into a single float, and the Krewe celebrated its golden anniversary.
