2002 Mardi Gras Lead Float. Saint Louis, MO

Just a few months after moving to St. Louis I won a design competition for the lead float in the second largest Mardi Gras parade in the country. Held every year in the historic French settlement neighborhood Soulard, the parade draws hundreds of thousands of people from around the region. The theme was "Mardi Gras goes to the Movies" so I designed a classic Art Deco movie palace on wheels complete with a prominent marquee and two levels to accommodate a large crowd with good views for all. Little did I know when I built it that every year it would reappear as the parade’s lead float.