By William E. Males

It is that time when coastal cities along the gulf are celebrating their Mardi Gas, from Tampa Bay’s Gasparilla to Galveston’s Mardi Gras - with more Krewes than you can know celebrating their Krewe of Who as a catch all - to Mobile’s Krewe De La Dauphine,  and Panama City Beach’s Krewe of Dominique Youx.  What used to be just a day of over eating and drinking in anticipation of Lent’s mandatory time of fasting and discipline has now become the focus of hundreds of thousands to just cut loose and over-indulge in weeks of revelry and partying. The elaborate elections of Krewe leaders, balls, parades, flotillas’ of pirate ships and more shiny color bead and plastic doubloons being tossed into excited crowds are more than you could imagine.