Norman's first night parade will celebrate its 30th birthday Downtown on February 10. This year's theme is Dancing With Dragons. The Society is encouraging entries to represent dragons from their culture. Danza Azteca Tonantzin will dance in the parade for the Meso-American dragon, Quetzalcoatl. Other groups are also scheduled to perform in the parade and the line up will be announced soon. Rumor has it a rogue T-Rex group will be among them.

Music typically ranges from high school students to professional musicians to rank amateurs. This year, the society hopes to bring in a 105 member high school marching band with a dance team. Costs are high, though, and sponsors are being sought to help with these and other expenses.

Drawing crowds of up to 6,000, depending on weather, the parade begins at dark (approx. 7 p.m.) with an awards ceremony immediately following at The Depot. Expect plenty of beads, marching bands of all kinds, roller derby queens, unidentified rolling objects and a pack of T-Rexes to be among the weird and wonderful sights typical of the Norman Mardi Gras Parade. The parade and awards ceremony are free to watch and family-friendly.

Prospective sponsors and parade entries can find more information at Normanmardigrassociety.org.

King Jahruba Lambeth, Queen Lori and the Fabulous Flanigan will be joined by marching bands from Millwood High School, Putnam City High School and more.

For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/NormanMardiGrasSociety for the event listing.