Southern Decadence is outrageous! New Orleans’ largest gay street fair  is September 2 – 7.   Drag queens, drag men, go-go boys and strippers, Lady Bunny, Shirley Q. Liquor, Chi-Chi LaRue- everyone and anyone is here!  Sunday’s big street parade, which rivals New Orleans’ gay Mardi Gras in scope, is the peak of the event.

The corner of Bourbon and St. Anne is considered the epicenter. The Bourbon Pub and The Parade are the big bars overflowing with male dancers. Everything and anything goes here! Dance parties, drinking, costumes, drinking, contests, parades and more drinking! Drink around the clock if you want to – and many do!

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According to Wikipedia – Decadence, as it is known by participants, is marked by parades, bead tossing, street parties and dance parties. The festival like Mardi Gras is highly sexual in nature, with overt advertising that liquor will be flowing heavily. It is aptly known as Gay Mardi Gras for its similarity to Carnival week earlier in the year.

Decadence crowds in the Quarter typically match or exceed the gay Mardi Gras crowds, leading some residents of the French Quarter to leave the city over Labor Day weekend, like some do for Mardi Gras itself, although the influx of visitors to the city as a whole is not so great as for New Orleans Mardi Gras.

 You used to have book 1 year in advance to get a room, and pre-pay, and pay double the room rate because it is such a highly attended event!  Last time I was there, pre-Katrina, a room in the French Quarter was $200 a night, with a 5 night stay. I am not sure if the same is still true in these post-Katrina times…..I checked online this morning, and rooms could  be found for  $65 – $100 a night!  MUCH  MORE  AFFORDABLE!  It’s a fun time, and every gay person should experience it at least once, in their life.


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