NO RAINING ON THIS PARADE

GALVESTON — A steady rain could not stop Paula Williams from dancing as the Krewe d’Espirit Rosaire parade made its way around the corner of Seawall Boulevard onto 31st Street, a marching band providing the soundtrack for her two-step.

Williams was one of a handful of spectators who braved a damp Saturday morning to revel in the second weekend of Mardi Gras festivities in Galveston.

The inclement weather on Saturday suppressed the usual turnout but not the enthusiasm of locals like Williams, decked out in the requisite Mardi Gras purple and gold, cheering on the marching band leader as he twerked in rhythm with the blaring horns. It was a scene that played out all over the historic city, where varied Mardi Gras celebrations were forging on with crowds that were markedly sparser than usual.

“Who doesn’t enjoy a parade in the rain?” Williams asked, rhetorically. “This is my best parade. It’s more intimate. Doesn’t have a lot of floats, but it has more feeling.”

A pickup towing a motorboat decked out in Oakland Raiders colors careened around the corner where Williams stood, its passengers all wearing Raiders jerseys.

“All right Ms. Clouserffl” Williams yelled, as a woman wearing a Raiders jersey tossed her a beaded necklace.

The Clousers are the founders of the Krewe d’Espirit Rosaire, the only black Catholic “krewe” on Galveston, founded 27 years ago by members of Holy Rosary Catholic Church of Holy Family Parish. The Krewe d’Espirit Rosaire parade started as a family-oriented foot parade but has expanded to include many high-stepping marching bands from southeast Texas along with drill teams, ROTC groups, the Krewe Royalty and other church organizations.

Making their way down 31st Street, Valerie McHenry Clouser sat in the back of the motorboat, with the Raiders’ NFL championship banners draped over the side. Clouser explained that her husband, Lawrence, is a diehard member of Raiders nation.

The Clousers usually decorate their makeshift float with a pirate theme, but they decided that for this year they would proudly don the silver and black. The Raiders’ logo, which features a helmeted pirate with an eye patch, was deemed “close enough.”

Local pride

Clouser marveled at the presence of her neighbors who lined 31st Street to show their support. Clouser explained they considered moving their parade to the Strand District, where most of the Mardi Gras action is, but instead stayed close to their roots.

“You’ll notice on this street, these are the locals, these are all the people in Galveston, bringing their families,” she said. “That’s what we pride ourselves in. That’s one reason we didn’t go to the Strand. We wanted to go to the neighborhood and have our parade where the neighbors are.”

As the parade moved down 31st Street, a group of seven people huddled outside of Di-Bella’s, a famed Italian restaurant in Galveston that recently closed its doors for good. The restaurant’s overhang provided an ideal respite from the rain, as Jamie Steichen and friends — they dubbed themselves “professional” Mardi Gras revelers — helped themselves to homemade bloody marys and mimosas. Steichen’s mother worked at DiBella’s for 11 years, and they return to the same spot every year to enjoy the parade.

Steichen and company were disappointed at the sparse turnout for this year’s parade. Several Houston-area marching bands bailed out of the parade at the last minute, and the usual procession of 40 to 50 Corvettes in the Krewe d’Espirit Rosaire parade — a favorite of Steichen’s — were absent this year, likely because of the dismal weather.

“It’s quieter this year for sure, last weekend, too,” said Steichen. “Hopefully tonight the weather holds out for the other parades.”

When the parade ended around noon, the house parties picked up the slack.

A stately Victorian on the corner of 31st and Avenue O doubled as the headquarters of the Krewe of Gambrinus, where Roy Hall and Dee Labuzan, the king and queen of the Gambrinus krewe, pranced around the front yard decked out in royal attire, Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” blasting from the garage.

‘Nothing stops us’

The Krewe of Gambrinus held its parade during the first weekend of Mardi Gras but plan on participating until the music stops.

“Gambrinus last weekend, Babalu last night, Z Krewe today, Fat Tuesday Parade on Tuesday,” Hall said, rattling off his Mardi Gras itinerary. “Nothing stops us. The party will go onffl”

About a mile away from the parade route, a side street off of Seawall Boulevard was lined with at least a dozen floats being prepared for Saturday night’s Knights of Momus parade, Galveston’s oldest and largest Mardi Gras krewe, dating back to 1871.

The floats pop with loud colors and ornate, intricate decorations and patterns, each with its own theme.

Some are kitschy, like a float featuring an Elvis Presley sculpture, bikini-clad women painted on the sides, while others feature more traditional Mardi Gras flavor, like one with a shield featuring the comedy and tragedy masks and the Cajun French expression, “Laissez les bons temps rouler.” (Translation: “Let the good times roll.”)

Last-minute preparation

Erin Medina was putting the finishing touches on her masterpiece: a beautiful blue float with an aquatic theme, a statue of King Neptune prominently displayed. Medina, a former landscape architect, has her own 3D life and body casting studio in Houston, called FX Art Forms.

Medina acquired the float from Kern Studios, a custom float maker in New Orleans, and spent weeks stripping it down to the axles and rebuilding it, hand-sculpting every inch, from the Neptune statue to an octopus clinging to the side of the float, to the sequined fish tail protruding from the back. Medina said she stayed up until 5 in the morning reinforcing the tail to make sure that it doesn’t buckle from the rain.

“I’m exhausted,” she said. “We kind of got this late, all of it late. But we’re done, we got done yesterday right in the nick of time.”

Even through bleary eyes, Medina took a step back and reflected on her expert craftsmanship. She made note of the float’s creative and practical flourishes, including a bathroom, vanity and table on the inside.

But of course, the Neptune statue is her favorite, a regal likeness featuring the sea king’s flowing locks and beards and a trident in his right hand.

“Didn’t he turn out good?” she said. nick.powell@chron.com twitter.com/nickpowellchron