2025 Mardi Gras Season Begins With Twelfth Night Tonight in Lake Charles

It's time for Louisiana's second biggest holiday to start, Mardi Gras! Mardi Gras in Louisiana is one of the most highly anticipated seasons every year with tons of people going to Mardi Gras Balls, attending or participating in parades, and attending a ton of events in the Southwest Louisiana area.

It all gets started tonight with the annual twelfth-night celebration. This is your chance to hail the 2024 outgoing kings and queens and their courts of more than 60 krewes in Southwest Louisiana all under one roof.

Why do they call it the twelfth night? It takes place twelve days after Christmas and signals the beginning of the Mardi Gras season before Lent. According to the Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association's Facebook page,

Join in the tradition of Mardi Gras's first event as royalty of last year in their grand costumes and give their symbolic goodbyes to the thousands who turn out to see the grand fanfare of costumes and greet the new season. There will be a lively mini parade featuring members of the local Krewes under the direction of Mardi Gras of Southwest Louisiana.

The annual twelfth-night celebration takes place tonight inside the Lake Charles Event Center and it is open to the public. Doors open at 6:00 pm and the event begins at 7:00 pm. The audience has a chance to win grand prizes, dance, and hail the kings and queens of more than 60 krewes.

Tickets for the twelfth-night celebration are $10 a person ages 6 years old and up. Children 5 and under get in free. Here is the link to purchase your tickets to tonight's festivities.

Mardi Gras is here in Southwest Louisiana and it gets started tonight. Don't miss it.