Party the Harvey blues away with Beans & Jeans

Published 6:20 pm Thursday, January 11, 2018

Grab your boogie shoes and leave thoughts of Harvey behind with the 5th Annual Beans & Jeans celebration.

The event, presented by the Krewe of Krewes and Mardi Gras Southeast Texas, officially kicks off the Mardi Gras season at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Carl Parker Center on the Lamar State College Port Arthur campus.

Organizers thought deep and hard on whether to go ahead with the event, considering the damage left from Tropical Storm Harvey’s devastating flooding more than four months ago.

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“The (Beans and Jeans) committee considered what Harvey left us all with and decided, hopefully by January, everybody would be ready to kick off the Mardi Gras season and this would be a successful event but the ticket sales alone has proven that to be,” Laura Childress with Mardi Gras Southeast Texas said. “We’re looking forward to a good time.”

Ricky Hollier with Krewe De Bon Appetit said his group is also looking forward to Beans & Jeans but they would not be doing their annual presentation of dance skits.

Even so, the Krewe is excited.

“This takes your mind off Harvey. When we were meeting we asked ourselves are we going to do this, can we do this? Are we going to put on a party months after a catastrophe,” Hollier said. “I think we need to do something to brush the dust off, knock the cobwebs out of our heads. I think we’ll have a great time.”

Tickets cost $25 each and include admission, bring your own beverage, and a bowl of red beans and rice. First Class, an Austin party band, will provide the musical entertainment.

Tickets may be purchased from any Krewe member. For more information, call 721-8717.

The venue was originally to be the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center but the building suffered major damage in Tropical Storm Harvey’s flooding in late August.

Childress said there would be fewer tickets available this year because the venue itself is smaller than the civic center. So, instead of about 1,000 revelers, there will be around 900.

Beans & Jeans kicks off Mardi Gras season in southeastern Texas where 18 krewes get ready for balls, parties and this year’s four-day Mardi Gras festival, which runs from Feb. 8-11 in downtown Port Arthur.

There will be parades, concerts, a carnival, arts and crafts, food vendors, street entertainment and more.

This year’s Mardi Gras festival theme is Music and Memories.