MOMS Club brings Mardi Gras Parade to Homewood

The MOMS Mardi Gras Parade has grown a lot since its first year in 2011, when only about 10 people showed up, according to Melanie Lewis, one of the event’s founders and a member of the Birmingham chapter of the MOMS Club.

The seventh annual Mardi Gras Parade drew about 125 mothers, children and other revelers to Central Park in Homewood on Tuesday, Feb. 13, despite overcast skies.

“We’ve come a long ways,” Lewis said after the parade.

“This is our biggest ever, and we’re just going to continue to let it grow,” she said.

Beginning at the park’s pavilion, the moms and their kids made a couple of laps around the park -- making noise, showing off funky costumes and tossing beads and Moon Pies to spectators.

Parade participants returned to the pavilion after the parade to pose for pictures and enjoy snacks, including Moon Pies, muffins and king cake.

And Lewis said that she hopes the event continues to grow in popularity.

“I’d love for it to get so big that we would have to shut down Oxmoor (Road) and parade down Oxmoor,” she said.

Courtney Campbell, who moved to Birmingham from Baton Rouge, La., with her husband, David, about five years ago, took part in the parade with her daughter, Virginia, age 3.

“This is our first Mardi Gras event here in Birmingham, but I wanted (Virginia) to see a parade, and she is loving it,” Campbell said.

She pulled Virginia and Virginia’s friend, Ada, age 2, in a wagon.

“They finally figured out that you are supposed to throw the beads instead of keeping them, so they’re having a good time now,” Campbell said, laughing.

Sharon Stringer, a Hoover resident, attended the event with her brother, Michael Gray, and her two grandsons, ages 2 and 4, who live in Homewood.

This was the second year that she had brought the boys to the event, and she had scooters for each one to ride in the parade.

“It’s fun watching them riding their scooters and throwing Moon Pies,” Stringer said.

Participants in the parade, as always, were encouraged to wear masks and Mardi Gras colors and to bring musical instruments.

The MOMS Club started the parade after Lewis moved to Homewood from New Orleans and realized that she missed the experience of watching parades.

“I couldn’t believe that I was having parade withdrawal,” Lewis told The Homewood Star recently.

The event also breaks up the long gap between Christmas and spring break for stay-at-home moms and their kids, Lewis told The Star in 2017.

“It gives you a little fun thing to look forward to,” Lewis said.

For information about the group, go to the “Moms Club of Birmingham, Public Page” on Facebook.