Krewe of Freret is back and rolling in 2014

After an absence of more than 20 years, the Krewe of Freret is back and parading again. Earlier this month, the New Orleans Police Department signed off on the co-ed krewe’s permit to parade through Uptown, and now they’re just waiting for the approval from the City Council to make it 100 percent official.

The krewe is shaping up to have at least 14 floats rolling down St. Charles Avenue with at least two hundred male and female riders. If the number of members increases to the 300 person mark, they’ll roll with 16 floats.

Krewe of Freret is tentatively scheduled to roll during the first full weekend of Mardi Gras parades during the 2014 carnival season on Saturday, February 22.

At their parade, keep an eye out for their unique throws. They’re looking for ways to bypass the traditional plastic beads made in foreign countries. Instead, they’re looking at signature hand-crafted throws, high tech throws and throws made by local artists.

Krewe of Freret dates back to 1953 as an organization started by mostly Freret Street business owners. No details yet on their exact parade route, but in the past, they lined-up appropriately on Freret Street.

The krewe stopped parading about 20 years ago, along with many of the other smaller neighborhood krewes from that time period because of rising costs and competition from the superkrewes like Bacchus and Orpheus.

The latest incarnation of the krewe was started by seven Loyola University graduates in 2011. In 2013, the NOPD never got around to approving their parade permit because of the added strain caused by having the Superbowl in town right in the middle of the Mardi Gras season.

Two other krewes, Krewe of Alla and Krewe of Choctaw, both from the Westbank, are joining the Krewe of Freret and the other Uptown krewes on the Eastbank in 2014.