King Cakes, Krewes and Caddo’s 2025 Carnival Season

Our northern cousins may be fighting harsh arctic storms, piles of snow and dangerous ice, but Shreveport-Bossier is deep in the midst of Mardi Gras season. There is no shortage of activity with bals, king cakes to bake, beads to procure and elaborate floats to bedeck. And neither cold nor rain nor the gloom of the rest of the nation shall deter these revelers from their appointed festivities.

Locals will have plenty of opportunities to collect beads, mementos and assorted tchotchkes throughout February before the somber days of Lent begin on Ash Wednesday, March 5.

Shelli Ulrich is chairing the Krewe of Centaur float loading party on Feb. 21, “which I’m really excited about,” she admitted. “The gate will open at 5 p.m. We’ll have food trucks; the floats will be on display. It’ll be the public’s opportunity to secure specialty beads. For the third year in a row, we’re offering a VIP ticket auction. For $40, they can come an hour early and get a guided tour. They’ll be able to tour a couple of loaded floats, and they’ll be able to meet and greet our royalty and receive a royalty bead, a parade bead and a parade-themed T-shirt.”

The float loading and the parade are open to the public. Tickets for specific events are available online. Christina Howard is the publicity chair for the Krewe of Gemini. She said their krewe also wants the public to get involved. “I feel like there is sometimes a misconception that these events are closed to the public, or you can only be a krewe member or invited by a krewe member to attend. That’s just not the case. Our Grand Bal is a great example of that. We had groups of 10 or 15 people buying tickets to come to the Bal and all planning to sit together at the same table and make a night of it. The same thing with float loading. You don’t have to be invited; it’s not a ticketed event. Anybody can come and sit in and see the floats. We’re here for the community, we’re doing all of this for the community, and we want the community to be a part of it.” Perhaps the most family-friendly of the parades is the Krewe of Highland, which rolls through old Highland. Mathew Linn, a long-time parade principal, described the event as “lots of kids, lots of fun.” He said the parade’s final lineup is incomplete, so there’s still time for local businesses to get involved.

“We want local businesses to promote themselves. We try to promote friendship in Highland. We want local businesses in Shreveport/Bossier to enter a float and do it as a team-building effort for their staff and throw koozies with their company name on it that they want to promote.”

Interested companies and individuals can get involved by going to thekreweofhighland.org.

Ulrich, Howard and Linn were unanimous in their request for the public; as Gemini’s Howard put it, “Tell all your friends and family, fingers and toes crossed. We want sunshine and 65 degrees.”

Tubbs Hardware & Cajun Gifts has decor like garlands, beads, doubloons and masks for Mardi Gras along with their famous king cakes.

THE NORTHWEST LOUISIANA LINE-UP INCLUDES:

The season began with the Krewe of Sobek Bal Jan. 17 at the Shreveport Convention Center (SCC), followed by the krewe’s parade Jan. 18. That same night, the Krewe of Demeter Bal was held in the David Means 4H Building in Grand Cane, La.

Next on the docket is the Krewe of Elders Bal at the Bossier Civic Center on Jan. 25, the Krewe of Oceanus Bal at 1 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 26, at the LeBossier Event Center. The Springhill Mardi Gras parade is also scheduled for Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. on Main Street. The Springhill Civic Center will host the Krewe of Nemesis Bal at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at the Springhill Civic Center. The Krewe of Barkus and Meoux Bal is slated for Sunday, Feb. 2, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Temple in downtown Shreveport. On Friday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m., the Krewe of Oceanus Parade rolls at Mall St. Vincent.

Feb. 8 at 6 p.m., the Krewe of Gemini Bal will be held at 6 p.m. at the SCC. At the same time, the Krewe of Aquarius Parade is set to roll in Logansport, La.

Feb. 17 will feature the Krewe of Harambee MLK Day Parade rolling at 1 p.m. in downtown Shreveport.

The Krewe of Centaur will hold its float loading event at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, at their den on Aero Drive north of downtown Shreveport. Their annual parade rolls at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.

The Barkus and Meoux Pet Parade rolls at 2 p.m. at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City.

The Krewe of Gemini will hold their float loading on Friday, Feb. 28, beginning at 5:30 at their den at 2101 E. Texas St., Bossier City. Their parade rolls on March 1 at 3:30 from downtown Shreveport.

The Krewe of Harambee Bal will be held at the SCC beginning at 6:30 p.m. on March 1.

The Krewe of Highland Parade rolls on March 2 at 2 p.m. That parade will start at Gilbert Drive and Gregg Avenue and make its way through the historic Highland neighborhood.

Rounding out the season will be the Fat Tuesday Children’s Parade of Shreveport and Bossier City on March 4 at 6 p.m. at Pierre Bossier Mall.

Loca King Cake Legends

LILAH’S BAKERY

Lilah’s Bakery’s first year selling king cakes was 2008, and they sold a respectable 70 cakes. Owner Lisa Tike and her team developed a menu offering fresh king cakes with flavors “uplifting as the traditions of Mardi Gras.” That approach proved to be a winning formula; last year, Lilah’s Bakery sold just under 22,000 king cakes.

Boasting a full array of flavors available for your king cake, a couple might not be what you expected.

“We have a boudin king cake and a pulled pork king cake,” Tike said. We’ve been doing that for six or seven years now. A bakery in south Louisiana was [making the cakes], and one of our customers said, ‘Can you do that?’”

Tike said she would try if the customer would bring back the boudin. They did, she did, and a new flavor greeted the local market. The cake is filled with boudin and pepper jack cheese and topped with cane syrup and cracklin’ crumbs.

“We added the pulled pork one about two or three years ago. It’s not as popular, but I kind of like it better. It has caramelized onions and barbecue sauce; you can’t go wrong with that.”

This year, they’ve added a new full-time flavor: cookie butter. “It’s been a flavor of the week for a couple of years, but it’s available every day now, Tike said.

The king cake business model is working for Tike. “We’re only open during Mardi Gras. We’ve been doing that for about 10 years now. We realized that we were using money from Mardi Gras to support the business the rest of the year, and it just wasn’t profitable to continue to try to do everything else.”

Everything else means the deli items and baked goods they offered at the time.

“We were having a difficult time keeping up with everything else during Mardi Gras season because king cakes were so popular that our oven was full of king cakes.

“At the time, we only had three or four employees working on king cakes. Now, I’ve got 26 employees. One employee works year-round, and all the others work seasonally.”

Their season officially starts Jan. 2 and runs all the way through the week of Fat Tuesday, so you still have time to satisfy that boudin and pulled pork craving before Ash Wednesday.

LOWDER BAKING COMPANY

Granted, Mardi Gras originated in France or Spain, immigrated to America, and predominantly became entrenched in the Gulf Coast region. However, in our highly mobile society, there’s no reason it can’t be celebrated far and wide.

To that end, Lowder Baking Company offers the Lowder King Cake kit for your remote friends and family to share.

By going to www.lowderkingcakes.com, you can easily send happiness and calories to faraway places.

Lowder’s will ship a traditional brown sugar-cinnamon king cake anywhere in the USA. The Lowder King Cake Kit comes with a fresh, fully baked “naked” king cake sealed to cake board, bagged icing, sprinkle containers, three Mardi Gras beads, a sticker about the bakery, “how to assemble your king cake” card, and you can add a custom gift message. When the package arrives, your recipient can use all their creative talent in designing the king cake to remember.

For the more inspired, you can add a sequined tiara, gold headbands and/or sequin masks to your order.

If shipping isn’t your goal, then Sarah Lowder says they have many flavors and sizes from which to choose. The selection includes apples and cinnamon, bananas Foster, Bavarian cream, chocolate chips and crème, cinnamon and pecans, Italian cream and Tiramisu to name just a few. She said, “Our most popular is the crème cheese specialty.”

They generally sell one size, which yields 12-15 services, “depending on how you slice it,” she explained, but they also have a smaller option that will serve two to four people.

They use locally produced pecans and offer a cake similar to the puff pastry originals rather than the more common cake or roll variety.

The physical location is 4019 Fern Avenue in the Madison Park neighborhood, and the phone number is (318) 562-1150.

They ship their Lowder King Cake Kits to any state in the USA during the Mardi Gras season, and the cake is freshly baked the same day it ships out.

Artist Karen La Beau is hosting a king cake-tasting event in the gallery of Uneeda Artist Lofts at 711 Milam, Shreveport. The cost of admission is to bring a king cake to sample, a king cake beverage or a dish named king cake. King cakes that are brought will be a part of the vote to name the bakery that made the best one (must be from Louisiana). Bring your item with a card with your name, bakery/maker and flavor. Join the Mardi Gras fun! (Photo by Jada Durden)

Buttercups introduces their new king cake for the Mardi Gras season.

Enjoy a King Cake Martini from 2Johns.

Krewe of Centaur is having a bead-art canvas class at their den on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 1 p.m. Create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece for your Mardi Gras decorations. The class costs $15 and an 8x8 canvas is provided.

Krewe of Centaur parade rolls at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.

Members of the Krewe of Centaur assemble an iridescent Pegasus for the front of a float.

Krewe of Gemini parade rolls on March 1 at 3:30 from downtown Shreveport.

A Krewe of Harambee parade stilt walker.