By Ken Stickney

Ken.stickney@panews.com

Jeanette Wehmeier of Topeka, Kansas was simply “stoked” as she awaited the start of the Golf Cart and ATV and Valero Krewe of Krewes parades Friday evening.

She’s in Port Arthur with the Lutheran church, doing disaster relief work, and she’d never experienced a Carnival season or Mardi Gras parade.

“I even got my nails done,” she said, extending fingers that displayed multicolored, festive work. Better that than the sheetrock that usually marks her hands at the end of hard day.

She was among sparse and sporadically positioned parade patrons on Procter Street, an hour before parade time. Rain loomed; would crowds come?

For Cathy Cooper, Krewe de Cameaux, it didn’t matter. Her dad was with the Sertoma Club, a parade founder, and she raised her daughter, Kendra, in the Carnival tradition.

A little rain wouldn’t scare her. She’s weathered sleet and heat and downpours to ride floats over the years.

Barbara Phillips of Valero, high above the lead float, said employees still love to participate as they have for 26 years. The company float rides all three days; perhaps 240 employees and guests ride in a typical year. This year, she said, managers and employees are “stepping up” to take part.

As an inspector, Mike Aguiler used to check for safety on Mardi Gras floats. Retired three years, he and wife Heather formed the Krewe of Borrachos, which has grown from 28 members to more than 40 to this year’s 50. Their krewe touts service to community: They adopted two miles of road from Nederland to Beaumont to keep clean, volunteer at a food bank and Friday morning visited Oak Grove Nursing Home, taking beads and King cake to residents.

About 25 students and staff from Lamar State College Port Arthur rode float No. 2, a collection of folks that included Student Government Association leaders and staff.

Brian Esquivel, director of student activities, said riding on the float would satisfy a lifetime wish.

“I’ve always wanted to be up there,” he said.