Waveland, MS. - Just one of our coastal cities that suffered such horrible devestation from the infamous Hurricane Katrina, was home to the Den for The Krewe of Nereids who hosted their annual Mardi Gras Parade.

All that was salvaged of the Den structure was the concrete slab
and one wall.

History of Nereids- The Krewe of Nereids was organized in 1966 by a group of outstanding Waveland, Mississippi business and professional women, and now includes in its membership ladies not only from the Bay St. Louis - Waveland area, but from the entire coastal region and beyond. This year marks the Krewes 40th anniversary.

One of the damaged floats being rebuilt.

In an interview with Jeannette Handshoe, an officer from Nereids, she explained how their Den was home to 25-30 floats and when Katrina hit their den first lost it's huge metal roof. By the time Katrina was done, they had 10 feet of water and the sides to the huge metal building had caved in on to their floats. Amazingly the Krewe feels blessed because only 1 float was totally destroyed. However the majority of members lost everything. Ranging from homes, cars, and jobs.  Krewe members are coming out of FEMA trailers and alternate housing to make this Mardi Gras happen for our coast.  The Huge 40th Anniversay plans for the parade and ball are being postponed until next year, and this year the Krewe has scaled back the parade and adopted the song, "Here for the Party" by Gretchen Wilson.

The spirit goes on-  The Krewe decided to pick 10 of their least damaged floats and rebuild them. Jeannette said, "They won't be the prettiest and not up to our usual standards, but we want to do this". The Krewe of Eros, born from the husbands whose wives belong to Nereids, will also be participating in this years parade with 2 floats.

Katrina caused the structure of the "Den" to collapse.

Remarkable tradition-  It is the Nereids tradtion that the R.O.TC. from Brother Martin High School located in New Orleans, leads off their parade, remarkably this tradition will continue. High School bands from Hancock and Bay High School will be performing.  A group from Pearlington, the "P-Town Social Club" traditionally has a float in the Nereids parade, when they were contacted they said even though they have lost just about everything their float survived and they will be there.

In aggreement with City Officials, the Krewe has reduced the size of their long standing parade from the usual 100 units to a smaller 55 units, to help with public safety issues. Jeannette said the city has been working hard to get the route ready for our parade.  Congressman Gene Taylor will be the parade marshall this year.  The Cvic Association who usually hosts the Annual St. Patricks Day parade, contacted Nereids and they will be adding 3 or 4 floats to this amazing parade.

A huge hats off to all the Krewes, groups and associations on our Mississippi Gulf Coast who have forged on through the tribulations we have all faced since Katrina. Those who have managed to focus on a upholding a positive tradition to bring smiles and cheer to all our Gulf Coast people.

After the collapsed Den has been removed repairing the floats started.

When and Where?-  The Krewe of Nereids Waveland Mardi Gras parade will start at 1pm on February 19th, 2006.
At the intersection of Highway 603 and Hwy 90. Rolling east in the west bound lane of Hwy 90 to the city limits of Bay St. Louis and then making a u-turn to head west in the east bound lane and ending at Waveland Ave.

Update - We received the following pictures from the Nereids krewe showing some of the repairs on the floats.

UPDATE:

As mentioned in the comments section a reporter from the Mobile Register, after seeing this wrote an article located (here).