MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) Carman, an exchange student, was among a sizable crowd that turned out in the rain for Tuesday afternoon's Mardi Gras parades.
"We always have so much fun! It's just great!" she said.
Carman is originally from Spain.
The paper sign in her hand says so.
In fact, Carman and two friends, also exchange students, have learned holding up signs from their home country during carnival parades goes a long way toward getting beads, rain or shine.
"Yes! I think so!" said Clara from Austria.
Martina from Italy agreed, even though, "I don't know what this thing is, this Mardi Gras!" she admitted.
But she knows she likes it, a lot.
And throughout this wet Lundi Gras, or "Skinny Monday" as some call it, we saw true fans of carnival risking their holiday hairdos for the spoils of the season.
That trend continued into the night as an impressive crowd turned out under threatening skies for the Infant Mystics parade.
Among them, the Tatum family from Elberta.
Stacey Tatum proved mom knows how to get the job done by creating a neon target for the float riders, complete with net.
It's the perfect bead magnet!
"I've found that signs and hollering and nets get everything, and it's working!" she said over the excited crowd.
But will it work for the Tatums on a wet Fat Tuesday?
"Absolutely," she proclaimed. "We've been here for three days, we're gonna keep on going! We've got ponchos and umbrellas. What's wrong with that?"
