NEW ORLEANS — Paradegoers left in droves after Krewe of Druids Wednesday night, before the Mystic Krewe of Nyx followed them down the Uptown route.
Families closed up tents and folded up chairs, wheeling ladders back to their cars.
“Nobody wants to watch Nyx. I mean honestly, the leader, Julie Lea, she’s horrible. She needs to resign,” said Bethany Bernoski, who said she and her friends were leaving before Nyx began.
Lea still led the Krewe, which is down to about 250 members from its robust 3100-member showing in 2020.
It was the krewe’s first appearance since the controversy erupted around Lea, including allegations of fraud and racist comments.
We did spot some of those overtones before the parade. Several members of the Farhad Grotto clowns approached an Eyewitness News crew along the route, before Druids rolled, and did an interview.
Immediately after the interview, our crews noticed one member wearing two strings of controversial beads with racist roots.
One, which says “Forever Lee Circle,” which were created in 2018 after Confederate monuments were being taken down in New Orleans. The other beads are a circle with a Confederate flag which say “Southern Pride.”
The member wearing the beads said he had no concerns over wearing them, but later, another member asked us not to air the footage of the beads. The krewe later told another Eyewitness News staff member that the man wearing the beads does not speak for the group.
We don’t know if the member wore the beads in the parade or took them off.
There’s so far no evidence the racially-charged beads were actually thrown during any of Wednesday’s parades, and the controversy did not overshadow the spirit along the route.
Thursday is another full night of parades, including Babylon, Chaos, and Muses.