Johnny Vidacovich, the drummer whose sticks have powered some of New Orleans' most legendary recordings, is stepping into royal robes as Robustus XL, the 2026 monarch of the Krewe of O.A.K.'s Midsummer Mardi Gras parade. The free procession returns to Oak Street next Saturday, August 29, marking the krewe's 40th year of naming monarchs for its uninhibited, costume-heavy summer send-up of Carnival season.
Vidacovich, born in New Orleans in 1949, played on landmark recordings including Professor Longhair's 1980 album Crawfish Fiesta and James Booker's 1982 album Classified, and he was an inaugural member of the modern jazz ensemble Astral Project, formed in 1978, according to New Orleans Tourism. He has long been a fixture at the Maple Leaf Bar, the Oak Street venue that serves as the Krewe of O.A.K.'s home base, as reported by NOLA.com. Alison Young, who performs with the Song Dogs, will reign alongside him as queen, per the same report.
The Song Dogs held a Tuesday night residency at the Maple Leaf in its early years, the outlet notes, part of a long lineage of house acts at the bar that also includes Meters bassist George Porter Jr., who maintains a weekly Monday night residency there with his trio, according to the Maple Leaf Bar.
A Krewe Named for Its Attitude, Not an Acronym You'd Guess
The Krewe of O.A.K. — an acronym for Outrageous and Kinky, per NOLA.com's report — was formed in the mid-1980s by legendary New Orleans bartender Terri Tucker and local patrons as a midsummer counterweight to the formality of Carnival season, according to ViaNolaVie. In its early years, the krewe's parade format sometimes amounted to little more than a pub crawl through the Carrollton and Riverbend neighborhoods, and its events always started and ended on Oak Street, the article states. Early Krewe of O.A.K. parades even featured large busts of figures popular at the Maple Leaf, with James Booker becoming one of the krewe's early icons, according to the same account.
This year's parade carries the theme The Rhythm Method, and it will be free for anyone who wants to join the procession. Costumes are encouraged, and former Krewe of O.A.K. royalty will mark the occasion by wearing purple sashes, according to the report. Andrew Quaid, who served as the krewe's 2024 monarch, Robustus XXXVIII, is wrangling the small krewes that will march in this year's parade. Quaid described the event succinctly: “It's two weeks of Carnival boiled down to one hot night.”
Honoring a Longtime Music Booker
This year's celebration also carries a note of remembrance. The Krewe of O.A.K. is honoring Douglas “Douggie” Trager, the Maple Leaf's longtime music booker, who died in July. The tribute threads through a parade otherwise built around costumed spectacle and neighborhood pride.
More than 15 small krewes and dance troupes are expected to march, including the Weathergirls, the Starfleet Steppers, the Mystic Krewe of Conus, the Krewe of Arthur Dent, the Mexican Wrestling Lucha Krewe, the Sassyracs, the Jamettes Krewe, and the Muff-a-Lottas. A drum line and a few brass bands may also join the procession, the outlet reports.
Route, Timing and the Oak Street Block Party
The parade will depart at 7:30 p.m. from S. Carrollton Avenue and loop from Freret Street to Spruce Street before returning to Oak Street, which will be blocked off for the evening. Krewes and revelers will gather at 5:30 p.m. on Oak Street ahead of the march, and Midsummer Mardi Gras royalty will address the crowd from the Maple Leaf balcony at 7 p.m.
Once the parade wraps, the celebration folds into a full block party on Oak Street, with a music stage set up at Oak and Cambronne streets. The Space Vikings will take over the Pink Lotus for their annual pillage party, a midsummer tradition for the group, featuring the Val Carre dance troupe and music by Pork ’n Grind. The Krewe of O.A.K. will hold its ball at the Maple Leaf following the parade, where costumes are mandatory.
Oak Street's Deep Roots as a Neighborhood Main Street
The parade's home turf carries its own layered history. The Maple Leaf Bar opened on February 24, 1974, as The Maple Leaf Rag Time Bar and Chess Club, launching its live music legacy with Andrew Hall's Society Jazz Band on opening night and a seven-year Saturday residency that followed, according to New Orleans Historical. The bar's bohemian streak runs just as deep: poet Everette Maddox co-founded its Sunday poetry reading series in 1979, now the longest-running poetry series in the South, and was so closely tied to the venue that his ashes were buried in its patio garden after his death in 1989, per the same source.
In April, local business and civic leaders dedicated new bronze historic district markers along Oak Street recognizing the eight-block corridor's preserved character as New Orleans' last remaining main street, according to New Orleans Magazine. The markers were funded through a grant from the New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund, with research by Tulane geographer Richard Campanella. Following a 2009 government-funded streetscape renovation, Oak Street's commercial corridor now hosts more than 60 local businesses and draws up to 30,000 visitors each November for the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival, according to Where Y'at New Orleans.
The neighborhood's distinct character traces back further still. Carrollton operated as an independent municipality from its 1845 incorporation until New Orleans annexed it in 1874, which explains its quirky street grid, where Lowerline Street sits upriver from Upperline Street, according to Wikipedia. Unlike the massive float processions of the winter Carnival season, which generate an estimated 25 million pounds of plastic Mardi Gras beads thrown annually according to WDSU, the Krewe of O.A.K.'s foot parade keeps things intimate, human-scaled, and rooted in hand-made costumes rather than mass-produced throws.
The midsummer Mardi Gras concept has even started to travel beyond Louisiana. Venues such as Revelers Hall in Dallas have hosted free Midsummer Mardi Gras events featuring New Orleans brass musicians, as Hoodline previously reported. But on Oak Street, the tradition remains distinctly local — a night when a Maple Leaf regular becomes royalty, and a neighborhood street becomes a stage.
