February: Mardi Gras in Mobile

Forget what you’ve been told: America’s Mardi Gras started in Mobile in 1703, years before New Orleans existed, and Mobile still throws a huge, family-friendlier, gloriously old version — weeks of parades by secret “mystic societies,” elaborate floats, marching bands, and enough MoonPies and beads hurled into the crowd to fill a warehouse. It’s one of the great American parties, and most of the country has no idea it’s here.

When: The weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday (February, occasionally early March — it follows Easter). Confirm the parade schedule for the year.