Carnival Supplement, IMPACT, Page 5

Bourbon Street Awards... Not Just A Gay Contest

What has become one of the most widely acclaimed contests in the nation today is not necessarily an exclusively gay event according to Edd Smith, MC for the famed Bourbon Street Awards, held annually on Shrove Tuesday at the corner of Dumaine and Bourbon Streets.

The straight women who enter the contest, explains Smith, are usually young girls with just paint on their faces; however, he remarks, "there have been numerous straight men from other Carnival krewes who have walked off with prizes in the past years." The contest is a public event and open to anyone who wishes to walk on the stage, stresses Smith.

The history goes back 20 years ago (this is the 20th such contest) to Mr. Jake, proprietor of the Clover Leaf Grill, who began and conducted the event then pretty much the same as Cafe Lafitte In Exile does today.

Whether the lure of the contest is a thirst for glory, a chance to be one's real self or just the Carnival spirit affecting the contestants, the stakes are definitely higher than ever beforeattracting contestants from around the globe. According to Smith 2/3 of the entries are from out of state.

Five years ago, in an effort to upgrade the contest, Lafitte's abandoned the idea of trophies for gifts of silver. "What can you do with trophies?" asks Smith. "I've won the Bourbon Street Awards twice, and the trophies are just sitting in a closet." Consequently, it has become tradition to purchase over $3,000 worth of silver gifts each year exclusively from Coleman Adlers Jewel-

ers.

Lafitte's Golden Boy Smith is by no means without his glitter for the festive occasion. He sports a 24-karat gold hard hat designed by Neiman Marcus of Texas and a genuine gold lame' jump suit designed by George DiNardo of New York City. The gold hard hat (his trademark) has prompted people from all over the country to send Edd hats throughout the year.

Each year the show attempts to adhere to a prevailing theme. Last year's theme was of an anniversary type due to the bars 25th year; however, the 1979 Bourbon Street Awards will be saluting

the Macho Man, thanks to groups like the Village People. There will be three categories of judging: Best Male Costume, Best Female Costume, and Best Group Presentation. Of course there will be the coveted Grande Prize, along with a Macho Man Award and 10 special awards given during the day. The Macho Man Award is a new category for men with beautiful bodies and not especially for costuming. The contest begins at 12:00 noon and the prizes are presented at 3:00.

The judges for the contest are selected by the MC, and Smith tries to select his judges from members of the costuming and theatrical professions, remarking that "these are the types of individuals that would be the better judges of good costumes. This year there have been five judges selected, but in the past years, there have been as few as three.

The State-Of-Louisiana-Charter for the contest has always been held by Jake at the Clover Leaf Grill, and there is no

financial gain related to the event, other than the silver gifts the contestants win. "In fact," states Smith "the contest actually hampers the businesses on that corner because of the large crowds."

Two years ago, according to Smith, a similar contest was tried on Rampart Street in a parking lot, but never attracted the crowds that Bourbon Street does. This year there will be two more contests on Carnival Day.

As early as 7:00 A.M. people begin to congregate on the famed corner in an effort to obtain the best possible viewing spots for the affair.

When questioned about the most spectacular costume he had seen, Smith related the story of Torchy Lane, a costume designer from Texas who designed costumes for a motorcycle club affiliated with Mary's of Houston four years ago. Down Bourbon Street came a processional of 85 motorcycles with a Barbarella theme, complete with Torchy strapped to one of the bikes with a leather cape and canopy shielding him from the weather. The following year they returned with another processional as Cleopatra's entrance to Rome-both times walking off with the grand prize.

The largest single costume according to Smith was Donny Lloyd dressed as a Chinese beetle, but because of the crowd, he did not wait around for the presentation of the prizes.

"The crowds" explains Smith, "are not kind to these kids. The costumes are so large, and people pull at the feathers. Each year we have tried to get the street blocked off like they do at Pat O'Briens, but the city would never hear of it. If the street were blocked off, the participants could be photographed much better, and have better access to the viewing stand."

This year the Bourbon Street Awards may see more than one first, but the one that is definite is that the street will

be blocked off on Dumaine from Bourbon to Dauphine Street. This is something that they have been trying to get done for 20 years now, and its reality

at last is largely due to the dual efforts of Marci Oni, from the City Research and Planning and Officer French from the New Orleans Police Department.

-R. Letson