Mobile is the Alabama city with the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States.
The tradition began in 1703, when French settlers celebrated Mardi Gras at Mobile, then the capital of French Louisiana. The festival was tied to the Christian calendar: Mardi Gras was the final celebration before Ash Wednesday and the fasting season of Lent. Mobile’s first recorded Mardi Gras parade followed in 1711, featuring a cart carrying a papier-mâché cow’s head.
Mobile’s Carnival later developed through mystic societies, private balls, masked processions, decorated floats and “throws” such as beads, coins and MoonPies. The city’s celebration is often overshadowed by New Orleans, whose modern Mardi Gras is more internationally famous, but New Orleans began its major public traditions later. Biloxi and Pensacola also have long Gulf Coast Carnival histories, which can cause confusion, but Mobile is the canonical answer for the oldest official U.S. celebration.
The event is now a broad civic festival lasting weeks, with parades organized by numerous societies. Its long history reflects French, Spanish, African, Creole, British and American influences.