Smooth jazz music drifted through the Bucksbaum Rotunda on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. as Grinnell students, dressed in beads, gathered for the College’s annual Mardi Gras celebration.
The event was organized through the College’s Center for Religion, Spirituality and Social Justice (CRSSJ) and led by Reverend Cassandra Lawrence, associate chaplain at Grinnell College. Although the tradition has been part of campus life for nearly a decade, Lawrence herself is relatively new to organizing it.
“I’ve only been at the College for a year, so this is actually only my second Mardi Gras here,” Lawrence said. “But I understand that the College and CRSSJ have been doing Mardi Gras for around ten years, usually with students from Louisiana.”
Lawrence said student involvement declined after the pandemic, and this year’s celebration was a conscious effort to rebuild that connection. She reached out to students from Louisiana, inviting them to help create the event and bring their own experiences into the planning process.
Planning for Mardi Gras began months in advance, far earlier than many attendees might expect. “You have to order the king cakes in November because they sell out,” Lawrence said. The cakes were shipped frozen from Louisiana and thawed just days before the event. True to tradition, each cake contained a small plastic baby, and students who found one could claim a prize — a $10 voucher for Saint’s Rest Coffee Shop.
For Lawrence, Mardi Gras holds both cultural and spiritual meaning. Having lived in California and Washington, D.C., she first encountered Mardi Gras culture while doing hurricane recovery work in Louisiana in 2007. “What I love about it is that it’s this beautiful blend of cultures,” she said. “African Caribbean, French, Indian, Irish Catholic. All these traditions come together to create something new.”
She also emphasized the global nature of the holiday. “Mardi Gras as a celebration exists all over the world,” Lawrence said, referencing Carnival celebrations in Brazil and Italy. “This is our American flavor of that global tradition.”
As a Christian leader, Lawrence sees Mardi Gras as a moment of joyful preparation.
“It’s the day before Lent, which is a season of reflection, prayer and sometimes fasting,” she said. “So for me, Mardi Gras is both celebration and preparation, culture and community alongside spiritual grounding.”
Students played a central role in bringing that sense of joy to life. Hope MacDonald `29, one of the students who helped organize and decorate the event, said she began assisting about two to three weeks before Mardi Gras. “In the future, they want it to be planned earlier,” she said.
MacDonald got involved after an email from Lawrence invited students from New Orleans to participate.
“She gathered everyone who was from New Orleans and asked if we wanted to help create some sort of event,” MacDonald said. “I was up for it, so I said yes.”
That sense of joy was evident among attendees as well. Nicholas Rasmussen `29 praised both the atmosphere and the food. “I really like it so far,” he said. “The music’s really great, and the food is good too.”
For MacDonald, Mardi Gras represents more than a party. “It’s about hospitality and a sense of community,” she said. “It also represents joy and just having fun and being together.”
