Putting Magic in Mardi Gras: Mardi Decorators' Rachel and Tate Elsensohn

by Karen Gibbs

“Let’s take a tour,” petite Rachel Elsensohn offers, as I arrive at the 23,000-square- foot den of Mardi Gras Decorators. Walking past the Mardi Gras murals in the reception area, I feel myself slipping into the carnival mood, humming “Mardi Gras Mambo.” By the time Rachel opens the door of the den, I’m ready to yell, “Throw me something, mister!” and my feet are itching to step on stray doubloons.

Then comes the magic—the “Ohmagosh!” moment of seeing over 200 enormous, papier-mâché props smiling down at me. Elfin faces, storybook characters, critters of every size and description, and every one of them known intimately by Rachel. “This is only about half of our props,” she begins. “We have more than 200 others in the dens of krewes.” Captivated by the figure of a raccoon lounging overhead, I can’t stop smiling. “He’s from Christmas in the Oaks,” she explains, her voice calling me back to reality.

“Come meet everyone,” she says, introducing me to her family of workers. Mike Breaux is working on a lighted replica of the old Civic Center sign for an upcoming event. Next is Dave Callaway from Lacombe, who heads up the papier-mâché department. Yockey Patcheco, the welder, is nearby. In the corner is Steve Ulness, MGD’s artist, who actually sculpts each prop. Right before our eyes, he’s transforming a giant face from a bygone float into a “Thriller” version of Michael Jackson.

We walk past a biker figure for the Krewe of Gemini in Shreveport and giant crests for the Krewe of Dionysius in Slidell. Then, we pause as Rachel describes the different stages of creating props. Beginning with an artist’s rendering—MGD hires well-known Mardi Gras artist Manuel Ponce to create all float designs—Steve sculpts the figure. Sometimes it is shaped directly in Styrofoam. At other times, he fleshes out the form with cardboard and white paper strips, topping it with papier-mâché. At that point, artist John Lamouranne paints the character, bringing it to life with creative strokes of his artist’s brush.

When Rachel talks about the business, she speaks with an authority that comes from experience, having worked for major New Orleans float builder Louis Massett for 17 years.

While still in high school, Rachel joined Massett’s staff, applying papier-mâché. She quit for a short time while going to college, but the allure of float making called her back to Massett, where she stayed until Mardi Gras 2006. Never one to turn down an opportunity to learn, Rachel worked in every facet of float decorating. With years of experience to her credit and a marketing degree from UNO, Rachel is well-equipped to handle any aspect of the business.

During her tenure with Massett, she trained sculptors, worked with artists, scheduled workers, conceptualized themes of floats and handled payroll, accounting and contracts.

“She was my right and left hand,” says Louis Massett. “She knew the business inside out.”

Louis recalls hiring Rachel’s husband, Tate, as operations manager in 2002. Tate’s job required him to manage labor, tractors, equipment, electricians, welders and tire men at the den and for every parade. Tate tells of one night when he coordinated the staging of six parades on the street at the same time. After the parade, he supervised crews for cleaning, removing or putting on lights (depending on the next parade to use the floats), emptying portable toilets and repairing damage to the floats’ exteriors.

“Before Tate came, I handled all this,” states Rachel. “I used to get sick to my stomach before a parade rolled,” she admits. “With Tate in charge, I knew he’d always do what needed to be done, and that’s a very comforting feeling.”

Then came Katrina and everything changed. They worked in battered, leaking dens, using generators for power just to honor their commitments. With neither the will nor the desire to rebuild his dens, floats and props, Louis, then 62, fast-forwarded his plans for retirement and called it quits right after Mardi Gras 2006.

At the same time, Rachel and Tate were reeling from Katrina, too. According to Rachel’s mom, Estelle Baudier, “They and the kids (Sarah, 9, and Ian, 13) had three changes of clothes each. That’s all. They lost their house in Meraux and everything in it, plus they lost their jobs—all at the same time.”

It was decision time for the Elsensohns—go forward with the business or leave it. Because they had no place to store floats, they opted to go into the decorating side of the float business. Louis offered them the props and Rachel accepted. “I always wanted to have my own business. The crazy thing about my being in this business is that there are no other women that I know of in it. Blaine Kern’s daughter works with him, but she doesn’t run the business.

“The hard part about starting out is that there is so much overhead. It was draining physically and mentally,” explains Rachel, adding that, at the time, they still didn’t have a place to live.

“I told Rachel, ‘We’re going to do it,’” adds Tate.

Hiring the family of co-workers from Massett, the MGD crew faced challenging conditions. Recalls Rachel, “

We worked out of a rundown building on Press Street—no power, no bathroom. We worked off generators for one year after the storm. This had to change.” And change it did, when Rachel found the building they currently occupy. “We were moving out of the Press Street building in February 2007, during our busiest season,” Rachel explains, shaking her head at the thought. In addition to the New Orleans den, Rachel and Tate work out of the dens of Orpheus in Slidell, Carrollton and Okeanos in New Orleans and Gemini in Shreveport, as well as their workshop in Lacombe.

Looking back on the past few years, Rachel reflects, “A lot of good came from Katrina. We wouldn’t be where we are today. Plus, I live closer to my mom and dad [in Lacombe] and get to see them each week instead of maybe once a month. Twenty-six members of Tate’s family moved into the Lacombe area, so now both families get together—60-70 family members—for events.”

With a new house and a new business to pay for, Rachel and Tate work tirelessly. Their first year in business, 2007, they decorated floats for 10 parades. They also did work for City Park’s Celebration in the Oaks and Storyland, the park’s time-honored nursery-rhyme village. Pat Baudier, Rachel’s dad, helped with the Storyland project. “We redid Hickory Dickory Dock’s clock so that the needles go around and the pendulum swings. We did the same thing with the three pigs, having the wolf wiggling down the chimney,” he states, proudly.

Another piece of history that MGD maintains is the beloved Mr. Bingle figure that Rachel and Tate worked on when they were with Massett. Displayed on the walls of their office is the thank-you citation received for restoring the Katrina-damaged Mr. Bingle in time for Christmas 2005. MGD continues to maintain the holiday icon to this day, storing the 17-foot-tall, 30-foot-long, 12-foot-wide character in a secret location.

A children’s Yule-time favorite is the 16-foot SantaGator at the beginning of Celebration in the Oaks. An MGD creation, this Santa-clad gator sits in a rocker surrounded by brightly wrapped presents with a little raccoon looking on—the same one that enchanted me at MGD’s den. Tate created a way to both transport and display SantaGator on a trailer, ingeniously solving the logistics of working with a figure of this size.

Unrelated to Christmas, but also a New Orleans favorite, is the streetcar fundraiser, “Streetcar Named Inspire.” MGD’s sculptor, Steve, carved the template for the project’s first streetcar, with MGD making all the mini-streetcars since then. These blank streetcars are adopted by businesses, painted with typical New Orleans themes and displayed around the downtown area.

The latest project for MGD is a storytelling amphitheater for City Park. Park administrators asked Rachel to design a storytelling/birthday party venue for children. Drawing on her fairy-tale imagination, Rachel came up with the idea of—what else—a castle, complete with a royal throne for seating storytellers and birthday celebrants. Fashioned with four enclosed storage/staging areas, the pavilion’s design allows characters to emerge from various corners to the delight of unsuspecting children.

As the Elsensohns look forward to creating more magic, Rachel says, “We’re a good team. We complement each other’s talents and both give 100 percent to the business.”

And Tate adds, “I love the way Rachel wants to be a go-getter. Her supportiveness and faith are the biggest things. She’s never, ever once said ‘No, we can’t do it.’ If you think it can be done, Rachel says, ‘Let’s try it.’”

Sidebar: MGD and the Original Krewe of Orpheus

For several years, Mardi Gras Decorators has crafted the floats for Mandeville’s Krewe of Orpheus parade. But great parades need more than beautiful floats. They need organization, happy riders—and a krewe captain who, along with an ever-loyal board of directors, makes it all come together. Eight-year Orpheus veteran Brett Lowe, this year’s captain, fills us in on what it takes to stage a first-class Mardi Gras parade.

According to Brett, he couldn’t perform his duties without the exemplary help of his board. Together, their first order of business is selecting the theme for the parade. This year, it’s Orpheus Toasts the Town. Once the theme is selected, Mardi Gras Decorators designs the floats, welcoming input from the krewe.

Next comes royalty. After all, what good is a parade without a king, a queen and their attendants? The captain oversees the selection of the royal court, which is named on Revelation Night, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The announcement is followed by the traditional “Hail Orpheus! Hail, yes!”

The captain also manages the krewe’s general activities. Social functions include the Coronation Ball on the Saturday before the ride (February 14 this year), a crawfish boil three weeks after the parade and the summer luau for new members. He also handles the revenue-producing enterprise of renting out the floats to other northshore krewes.

Finally, on the evening that Orpheus electrifies the streets of Mandeville, the captain keeps the parade moving. From staging to riding to the post-ride party, he’s the go-to person for every need. When his duties finally reach a climax, one can almost hear Brett’s exultant shout, “Hail, Orpheus! Hail, yes!”

I love Rachael and Tate - they brought love and life into so many people, thank you for being part of my faith journey!

Ed (Brother Ed Arambasich, OFM)