Get ready to party at Saturday’s Mardi Gras at City Roots

“Laissez les bons temps rouler,” as our Cajun friends would say – let the good times roll.

There will be no better place to let loose with great food, music and fun than at this year’s Mardi Gras, hosted Saturday, Feb. 6 by the Krewe de Columbi Ya Ya at the urban farm City Roots.

Because, this year, Mardi Gras is free.

Free, as in no entry fee to participate in the parade or to enter the festival (but you’ll need cash for food and drink).

As organizer and former Mardi Gras King Tom Hall said, “as a Krewe, we boldly decided to not ask for city tax donations after receiving them for three years to subsidize our event. We saw our festival grow as an organic and joyous experiment. For Mardi Gras to be relevant, it has to be pure – pure in the form of a group of people dedicated to throwing a party for all Soda Citizens for free.

“That’s what Mardi Gras is about – joyous giving and celebration.”

Now in its sixth year, a spirit of community, charity and carefree fun continues to inspire what many consider the coolest festival of the year. People come in costume, favoring the traditional purple, gold and green. They tote their kids and dogs. And they bring enough money for beer and Cajun-inspired food.

So get ready to blow it out in the tradition of Mardi Gras, before the Lenten season begins.

The theme

“Star Wars.” The movie was highly anticipated, great fun and action-packed, so go forth and find your inner Wookie. And then put him/her on parade.

The Mardi Gras King and Queen

This year, the Krewe selected State Rep. James Smith, D-Richland, and Eme Crawford.

Smith played a part in the removal of the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, and Crawford, director of advocacy for Tell Them!, has worked to improve reproductive health policies and reform sex education laws in South Carolina.

The race

There’s a 5K run/walk billed “the Lagniappe,” a Louisiana Creole word for a little something extra.

Entry fee is $30 and includes festival T-shirt, or add $5 to run with your dog. Proceeds go to City Roots. Race check-in is at 7 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, and race begins at 8.

The course begins at the soccer fields near Owen’s Field airport and follows a route through the Rosewood neighborhood. It’s mainly a flat course, certified by USATF, and it’s an official Columbia Running Club 2016 Tour de Columbia event. Age group awards will be given to top male and female finishers. Run in costume, and enjoy a beer, donated by River Rat Brewery, and live music by Alien Carnival at the finish line.

Deadline for online registration is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5 at www.mardigrascolumbia.com/the-5k.

The parade

Just dress up and show up. Free and open to everyone.

Line up at 10 a.m. on Jim Hamilton Boulevard by Jim Hamilton-L.B. Owens Airport.

Parade begins at 11 a.m. and will follow a route turning right onto Airport Boulevard, left onto Holt Drive, right onto Woodrow Street, right onto Rosewood Drive, right onto South Holly (at Publix), to return to Airport Boulevard and City Roots.

The festival

Let the party begin! The festival starts at noon and ends at sundown at City Roots.

There’s no entry fee, but food and beverages will be available for a nominal cost.

All proceeds from this event will benefit City Roots Farm. The farm lost its entire winter crop during the October flood.

The music

There will be four stages with Myrtle Beach-based reggae act TreeHouse! leading the way.

Also in the lineup are Bumpin Uglies (ska/reggae), She Returns From War (acoustic country), Black Iron Gathering (punk rock), Old Time Snake Milkers (fiddle and banjo), The Mustache Brothers (bluegrass), Devils in Disguise (roots/alt-country), Post Timey String Band (folk), Prairie Willows (“three-part harmony with whiskey on the side”), Flat Out Strangers (gypsy jazz), Tom Hall and the Plowboys (anything-goes folk rock), Papa String Band (jam rock), Black Bottom Biscuits (honky tonk), Stefanie Santana (funky folk with a ukelele), Capital City Playboys (rockabilly), Debbie and the Skanks (rockabilly), Dr. Roundhouse (rock), Pharaohs in Space (roots/Southern rock), Danny Joe Machado (space/country/rock), and Stillhouse (jam rock).

The food

While the Krewe de Columbi Ya Ya will be preparing food for the bands, the following vendors will be providing food for sale to festival-goers: Carolina Cookin’, Dippin Dogs, Charleston Lowcountry Kitchen, Gin’s Juice, Big Southern BBQ, East Bay Gourmet, Mary’s Arepas, Mimi’s International, Belgian Frites and Happiness Bomb.

Something else…

Adventurous? You may want to try out the Ya Ya Dog Pull Races that Hall is organizing immediately after the 5K.

Here’s the idea: you on a skateboard, your dog on a leash, you line up on the skateboard at the starting line and go! Dog takes off running – you just need to figure out how to stop. Extra points if you’re in costume.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Get ready to party at Saturday’s Mardi Gras at City Roots."