Kern Studios, the family-run shop behind New Orleans’ towering creatures and glittering Mardi Gras floats, is no longer just a Carnival-season operation. The sprawling warehouses along the river now buzz through winter and deep into the summer, cranking out parade floats, theme-park spectacle and stadium-size props for clients across the U.S. and beyond. That evolution has turned the float factory into both a steady local employer and a full-fledged global fabrication business.
Barry Kern, who now runs the company with his sons, says the operation barely resembles the old seasonal workshop. Per NOLA.com, Kern Studios generates more than $100 million in revenue and employs over 200 people worldwide, with offices in Houston, Orlando and Philadelphia and production capacity in the Philippines. The company’s own history page traces that story back to Blaine Kern’s formal founding of the shop in 1947, then follows its expansion into the multi-warehouse footprint it operates today.
A Global Shop for Parks, Brands and Parades
What began as float-building for local krewes has grown into a service arm for national entertainment buyers and big-brand campaigns. National coverage has spotlighted Kern’s work on large events and theme parks, while local television specials have walked viewers through the sheer scale of the shop’s operation. CBS News has profiled the family’s four-generation run in parade fabrication, and regional reporting has tracked the studio’s pivot into true year-round production.
Recent Big Builds
The studio’s project list now swings from SEC-sized mascots to nightly theme-park parades. Mardi Gras World recently showcased “Mardi Gras Mike,” a roughly 30-foot tiger built for LSU, and multiple outlets have covered Kern-built floats slated for Universal’s 2026 Mardi Gras season. Coverage of park celebrations and travel writeups alike note that Kern’s handiwork has become a recurring attraction in those entertainment lineups.
Keeping Artists Working Year-Round
“We could never maintain the artists, sculptors, carpenters and welders we have in New Orleans if we didn’t have work on an everyday basis,” Barry Kern told NOLA.com, summing up why the business pushed beyond Carnival jobs. That steady pipeline, from corporate activations to park parades to stadium installs, lets Kern offer longer seasons and more consistent pay to skilled makers who once had to rely mostly on short, seasonal stints.
What It Means for New Orleans
Blaine Kern, who helped turn float building into a New Orleans industry, died in 2020, but the company remains one of the city’s most visible cultural employers. Local reporting and obituaries have chronicled his life and influence, and the Kern visitor attraction continues to pull in large crowds while the studio’s workshop network keeps New Orleans artists on the job all year long. For a city long defined by a single annual festival, Kern Studios now stands as a template for turning cultural craft into stable business lines that stretch across the globe.
