Mardi Hardy: Arthur Hardy and his Mardi Gras Guide
by Stephen Faure
Mardi Gras in New Orleans just wouldn’t be the same without Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide. Since 1977, Arthur Hardy has been the best source for reveling parade-goers to get information about parade times, routes and krewe specialty throws.
He’s now a resource the northshore can claim as its own. Looking for a less hectic life after their children, Jason and Robyn, were grown and off to LSU, Hardy and his wife, Susan, joined the ranks of the “come heres,” moving to Mandeville about one-and-a-half years ago. Their home, with a spacious deck in a shady back yard, provides a peaceful setting for enjoying life among the pines. A small building behind the house that started life as an artist’s studio is now Hardy’s office and home to part of his extensive memorabilia collection.
“We really enjoy it out here. There’s even a raccoon that comes in the yard every three days or so. He was injured at some point; one of his legs is bad. I call him ‘Waltzy.’ Not everyone gets that—waltzes are written in three-quarter time.”
That may seem to be obscure musical humor coming from the man famous for his Mardi Gras knowledge, but people may not know that Hardy spent 20 years as a music educator, 17 of those as director of Brother Martin High School’s Crusader band. This musical connection helped seal the deal in getting the Mardi Gras Guide off the ground on the way to success.
“What entrée I had into the Mardi Gras community was marching in parades,” Hardy says. As band director, he met parade organizers, krewe officers and city officials—crucial pipelines to future parade information. Having those early connections paid off when Hardy first decided to publish his guide in 1977. Getting inside knowledge on Mardi Gras krewes was much more difficult in pre-internet days.
The idea started brewing earlier in his career, although he says he “would have thought someone smarter than me would have thought of it before.” He remembers, “I used to work at radio station WSMB on the switchboard answering the phone. People called in wanting to know what parades were running and where they were going. All we had was the newspaper. We started clipping the parade news out and keeping it for when the calls started.”
Later on, after marching in parades with the band, the idea came to full fruition. While working at Brother Martin, Hardy and Susan (who was teaching at De La Salle) decided to take the plunge, with their savings and a loan from the archdiocesan credit union. “The first year, we printed 5,000 copies and only sold a few thousand, not enough to cover expenses.” Persevering after that first year, Hardy went on to print 5,000 copies again in 1978 and sold all but six.
He says that—after that complete success—“I told myself, ‘I’m a genius.’” So he produced 10,000 copies of the Mardi Gras Guide the next year, 1979. That was the year the New Orleans police went on strike—a disaster, because carnival was cancelled.
It’s been a relatively smooth ride for Hardy since then, however, with his guide evolving from its first days as a small black-and-white pamphlet. In 1984, he began to print it in color and allowed advertising inside; in 1987, he expanded the publication to a full-size magazine format.
That was also the year he added his name to the title, making it Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide. “It helped with sales and my credibility. I was asked to go on TV that year, and it helped that I was identified with the Mardi Gras Guide,” he says. It also set him apart from others who had begun publishing their own carnival parade guides.
The guide’s rich content is a reflection of Hardy’s obsession with making complete sets. “If I collected comic books, I wanted a complete set. I wanted to bring a new element and tell everything about a krewe, not just the parade route.” Along with the route, the guide’s blurbs included the krewe’s logo, its history and some of the mythology behind the krewe’s theme. “There’s something there on every level.”
But what he started, and now every other parade guide copies, is telling folks what special throws a krewe will feature. “People want to know, ‘What am I going to catch that’s special?’ If there are five parades on the same evening, people want to know there’s a reason to go to one parade rather than another.” The guide includes pictures and descriptions of the krewes’ doubloons and specialty beads. Hardy wants to convey a sense of “here’s what’s neat about this group,” including the logo cups that have become popular with riders and crowds. “That’s what I should have invested in—the krewe-logo-cup-and-bead business.”
Getting information would have been easier in the earlier days, as in the 1950s when there were only a dozen or so parades. But, “By the mid-1970s you had 50.”
The atmosphere of mystery behind many of the krewes didn’t help, either. “They were very secretive and had no interest in giving out information; if you wanted information about Momus, for example, you first had to find someone who would tell you he was in Momus.” Through his experience in the parades as band director, he had met a lot of key people, and, as he jokingly puts it, “I knew some names to beat information out of.”
Eventually, competition for parade-goers and the opportunity for krewes to differentiate themselves from other parades made it less difficult for Hardy to get information to publish in the guide. “Once krewe captains realized I was out to promote the best they had to offer, it became easier to get the information. Most have a sense of history and want to be a part of the program.”
Hardy now gets parade route information from the krewes and from city and parish officials. Although it’s easier for people to get the same information from sources such as the internet, Hardy warns that internet information may not be accurate. Krewes may change routes from year to year, as Le Krewe d’Etat will do in 2009. (Rather than forming on Napoleon, it will start at Jefferson and Magazine and roll down Magazine to Napoleon, where it picks up its old route to St. Charles. You learn a lot visiting with Arthur Hardy.)
From the beginning, he sold the guide all over the city; its original price was $2.99. “I wanted to sell it as an impulse item next to the bubble gum and candy by the cash register.” Now about 100,000 copies of Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide are distributed all over the New Orleans area. But, he laments, “My greatest outlets, like they say, ‘ain’t there no more’—Time Saver, K&B, Schwegmann’s and Maison Blanche.”
His involvement with the northshore krewes is growing. “2008 was the first year we incorporated all the major St. Tammany parades.” He also was on hand for Channel 6 to kick off Mandeville’s 2008 Krewe of Eve parade.
Reflecting over his years of association with Mardi Gras, Hardy says, “The strength of Mardi Gras is in its diversity and innovation. It keeps re-inventing itself.” There have been some fundamental changes. He notes, “It’s no longer an exclusive club for rich and white people.” But, “In some ways, we’re going back to the beginning.” He cites examples, such as Le Krewe d’Etat’s bringing back a tradition of satire (and parade bulletins!) and the revival of marching clubs.
One-Stop Source
“I try to make it as easy as possible for people to get info,” Hardy says. He’s become a one-stop source for Mardi Gras information, not only through the pages of the guide, but through personal appearances, as well. His first time on television was with WWL Channel 4, but he now serves as a roving parade reporter and carnival-day anchor for WDSU Channel 6. (He is still a frequent guest on WWL radio, though.)
He doesn’t limit the sharing of his knowledge to us locals. Hardy has been on the “Today Show” four times, once in the New York studio, and three times in New Orleans when the show did remote broadcasts from the city.
“In most cases, I’ve been able to promote the good part of Mardi Gras. The publicity the spring break element of Mardi Gras gets is out of proportion.” He’s concerned that people who’ve never been to Mardi Gras may think it’s only a festival of lewdness. “I can understand a man being afraid his family will see girls stripping on the street. But that’s only on Bourbon Street, and it’s not a Mardi Gras tradition—it’s a Bourbon Street tradition,” Hardy says. For the rest of Mardi Gras, “It’s really a wholesome family event, considering the amount of people on the street.”
His broadcast schedule during the carnival season keeps him from doing what he would most like to do. “I would love to be able to stay and see the whole parade.” Luckily, his schedule allows him to watch one, the Krewe of Thoth that rolls on the Sunday afternoon before Mardi Gras. He relishes catching it at Magazine and Napoleon, just like anyone else. That day is a busy one, with the super krewe of Bacchus to cover for television and radio as it rolls that evening. “Then it’s back on the horse until Ash Wednesday.”
Giving Back to His Alma Mater
One non-carnival activity that Hardy is proud of is his involvement with his alma mater, Warren Easton High School. The first boys’ school in the city, the Canal Street institution has been on its present site since 1913. It has graduated many New Orleans notables, including Mayor Victor Schiro, Cosimo Matassa (who produced hits for Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Little Richard) and Pete Fountain.
The school took on ten feet of water during Katrina. In the aftermath, the school board was doubtful it would reopen before 2007, if at all. Hardy and a group of other alumni formed the Warren Easton High School Foundation, which chartered the school and began organizing funding and repairs. They’ve been very successful. The school now has 850 students, with a 98 percent graduation rate.
The foundation has attracted the attention of some prestigious celebrities. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush visited the school on the first anniversary of the storm to help celebrate its rapid recovery. Among notable donors are actress Sandra Bullock and the San Francisco 49ers football team, which donated $35,000 last September.
Hardy says, “I have a real passion for it. It’s important; it will affect another generation. Nothing’s been more rewarding than being a piece of this effort to put it back together.”
Arthur Hardy Enterprises
Hardy has published his own book, Mardi Gras in New Orleans: An Illustrated History. It’s more of that “completeness” that drives the Arthur Hardy Mardi Gras Guide, featuring complete lists of things, such as all of the kings and queens of various krewes—he lists 5,000 in the latest edition—and lots of facts and pictures relating to carnival krewes and traditions.
His company has published works by other writers, including New Orleans historian and folklorist Ronnie Vergets (Lost Bread and Say, Cap!), Wayne Mack (The Saga of the Saints) and Bob Roesler (The Fairgrounds: Big Shots and Long Shots).
With so many irons in the fire, it’s easy to see why Hardy and Susan enjoy their life among the pines. Waltzy the raccoon was only one of the surprises the northshore held. “We had no idea about the wildlife,” Hardy says. He knows that many more surprises await. “We love it, and wish we had more time to explore. When the next Mardi Gras is over, I’d like to take a vacation over here.”
