The 25th Tuesday

ST. LOUIS -- With dozens of official Men's Urinal Stations in place, and legendary boxing promoter Don King set to join today's Grand Parade, the French-heritage Soulard neighborhood is primed for the biggest day of its 25th annual Mardi Gras celebration.

Make that the second 25th annual. Organizers mistakenly called last year's the 25th. The original celebration started here on Feb. 9, 1980.

Friday's after-lunch crowd already was spilling out the door of Johnny's, formerly Hilary's, the spot where the late Hilary Clements and four pals threw a party in a rundown building in a neighborhood that hadn't yet hit its stride.

Each put down $250, invited 50 people, and paraded with a casket to John McGurk's bar with a Dixieland band at midnight. Before long, hundreds of people each year were gathering at Soulard house parties and joining the midnight Mardi Gras parade.

"We never envisioned the parade would get this big," said jeweler Bob Brinkman, 69, the only surviving member of the original organizing party of five.

"As I get older, I get more and more proud of us. Last year, [the Grand Parade and daylong celebration] brought $21 million to this city, and 450,000 people. This year, we're expecting well over 500,000."

Many believe St. Louis' Mardi Gras is second only to New Orleans in magnitude of celebration. But local Mardi Gras organizers don't want to enter a competition with Mobile, Ala., Galveston, Texas, and other Mardi Gras cities.

"We're clearly one of the largest in the nation," said Mack Bradley, spokesman or "lord high minister of information" for Mardi Gras Inc.

"We do what we do and as well as we can," added director Tim Lorson, the "prime minister."

Local Mardi Gras festivities began long before this week. In a ceremonial 12th Night celebration on Jan. 6, the Soulard neighborhood petitioned the "king" or chairman of the Mardi Gras board to proclaim a celebration, followed by a short parade and flag-raising.

Throughout January, Soulard celebrated with a wine-tasting event, Cajun Cook-off, Taste of Soulard, and a pet parade that this year drew thousands of dogs.

The Mayor's Ball, a black-tie affair at City Hall, and two less-formal balls were Friday night.

This year's Grand Parade -- a raucous, often raunchy, rolling party and the highlight of Mardi Gras festivities -- will feature 110 floats dressed in a Broadway theme. Cast members of the Fox Theater production of "Les Miserables" will serve as the grand marshals. But Don King, in town for Cory Spinks' welterweight title rematch against Zab Judah on Saturday night, will be riding in the parade.

"We asked him to be in it," Bradley said. "Why would you pass up an opportunity like that?"

Four hundred volunteers are helping to put on the party. Thirty alone mixed 2,000 gallons of Hurricanes on Friday.

Alcohol will be flowing throughout the day, but bars must close at 11 p.m.

Hundreds of St. Louis police officers and State Liquor Control and City Excise agents will be on the watch for underage drinkers and acts of indecency, including public urination.

And while police discourage nudity, Police Chief Joe Mokwa says a nudity arrest isn't worth the disruption that might occur from police intervention. Some female parade watchers bare their breasts in hopes that people on the floats will fling them a brilliant-colored strand of Mardi Gras beads.

For those living in the heart of Soulard, the party is reason enough to get out of town.

"It's not so enjoyable when you're living here," said Jessica Messner, 21, a Soulard resident who didn't get any sleep the night of last year's Grand Parade. "People were hooping and hollering until the cops threw 'em out."

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On the Net:

St. Louis Mardi Gras events: http://www.stlmardigras.org