Barry Kern, New Orleans Mardi Gras
New Orleans has more than 50 Mardi Gras parades. Each parade has numerous floats. This begs a serious question: Where do all those floats come from? Some people still make their own floats, but the vast majority are made by Kern Studios, the reigning King of Mardi Gras float makers.
The Kern family has been making floats since 1932, when Roy Kern got into the business. In 1947, Roy’s son Blaine founded Kern Artists. Blaine’s success in the business earned him the nickname “Mr. Mardi Gras” in New Orleans, and led him to open Mardi Gras World in the 1980’s.
Mardi Gras World lets visitors loose in the 75,000 square foot warehouse where the Kern artists make floats. The tour of Mardi Gras World includes tastes of the Mardi Gras classic pastry King Cake, videos of prior Mardi Gras parades, and an opportunity to dress up in the many Carnival costumes on hand. And of course, you get to play around the many floats and their accoutrements, namely, sculptures of famous people like Marilyn Monroe and Cleopatra, and a smorgasbord of dragons, alligators, dolphins and many other creatures that have found their way onto a Mardi Gras float. The artists can be seen creating the sculptures and floats and making those dreamlike parade staples come to life.
The float making family tradition is continued today by Roy Kern’s grandson, Barry Kern, President and CEO of Kern Studios. Today the Kern Studio prepares floats for parades around the world, for casinos, and for amusement parks. Kern Studios has artists and factories around the world.
Subscribe to Gulfscapes to Read the Whole Story.
“We make floats for parades all over the world – from Universal Studios to Japan, Korea, France and Spain,” said Barry Kern. “We’ll produce 400 to 500 floats for Mardi Gras. Most are built out of cloth, paper mache or fiberglass on farm wagons. Our studios operate year-round and we have around 150 full-time employees.”
What’s the largest float Kern Studios has ever built? “The S.S. Captain Eddie. It was 240’ long and held 200 people,” said Kern. The S.S. Captain Eddie was a “Superfloat”. The Superfloats have ornate design, sound and lots of fiber optic lighting.
Can’t afford to have Kern Studios build you a Superfloat? No problem. They even have floats for rent, from a mini-float that is hand pulled and carries two to six people, up to a Superfloat that can carry up to 60. You can also rent props for your float, like 3D sculpted figures, as well as walking heads and krewe costumes. It’s your one stop shop for all your Mardi Gras parade needs.
Not bad work, if you can get it.