Endymion parade returns to traditional route in 2025, after 5 years

The Endymion parade announced Wednesday that it will return to its traditional route during Carnival 2025 for the first time in five years.

That means the parade will begin as usual at the edge of City Park in Mid-City, eventually winding its way past Gallier Hall on St. Charles Avenue and concluding at the Superdome, where the krewe’s post-parade concert and party take place.

The unique route of the enormous procession, featuring upward of 50 multi-segment floats and 3,000 riders, has been repeatedly altered by circumstances over the past few years.

The collapse of the Hard Rock hotel construction site in October 2019 caused the 2020 Endymion parade to be rerouted to avoid part of Canal Street, though this became a moot point when the parade was cut short after a spectator was killed by a passing float.

The COVID pandemic prompted the city to cancel all Carnival parades in 2021.

In 2022, the Endymion parade returned to the streets, but a shortage of police officers and other city service personnel caused the route to be shortened, eliminating the customary St. Charles Avenue leg.

A large-scale renovation of the Superdome in 2023 required the krewe to conclude the parade at the Morial Convention Center, again eliminating the St. Charles Avenue part of the route.

In 2024, the Superdome renovation work again caused the parade to end at the Convention Center, though the St. Charles Avenue leg was restored.

According to krewe captain Dan Kelly, before the recent disruptions, the parade had ended at the Dome since 1981, not counting the two years after Hurricane Katrina, when the stadium was undergoing repair. As Kelly put it, “this year we’ll finally get back to some normalcy.”

Endymion rolls at 4:15 p.m. on March 1.