FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (1/05)
Contact: Carla Alsandor, Centenary Office of Alumni Relations, 318-869-5008, or Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

Centenary College Joins in the Festivities of 10th Annual Highland Mardi Gras Parade Feb. 6

	William Joyce's float in the 2004 Highland Mardi Gras Parade features his Rolie Polie Ollie character. Joyce is artist-in-residence at Centenary. (File photo courtesy of the Krewe of Highland)

SHREVEPORT, LA —Centenary College will join the Highland neighborhood's Mardi Gras parade for the first time this year at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, as the event celebrates its 10th anniversary with an expanded parade route that travels past the campus.

The Centenary Alumni Association is sponsoring 10 pickup truck floats, each featuring a letter from the college's name, and Centenary President Kenneth L. Schwab will serve as grand marshal.

The college itself will offer a "family zone" for parade viewing, free hot dogs and children's activities on Jones-Rice Field.

The annual Highland Parade, sponsored by the Krewe of Highland, is a popular neighborhood parade that features entries from as small as a single person to as large as a major parade float. Until this year, the parade looped around Creswell and Highland Avenues, beginning and ending on the east side of Byrd High School. Because of the growth of the parade and the increased number of participants, this year the Krewe of Highland expanded its route eastward to Centenary Boulevard and Gladstone before returning to Byrd.

	Highland neighborhood resident Bruce Allen, who is also a professor of art at Centenary, parades as Uncle Sam at last year's event. (File photo courtesy of the Krewe of Highland)

Centenary's Jones-Rice Intramural Field on Centenary Boulevard will be designated as a "Family Zone" and will be open to the community at noon as a family-oriented "dry" place for families to congregate.

Although the college itself will be closed for its annual Mardi Gras break, volunteers and students remaining in town will be on hand to provide children's activities. The Alumni Association will be preparing hot dogs and representatives of the Admissions Office will be on hand for anyone wanting a campus tour.

The pickup truck floats will be decorated by Centenary's Departments of Theatre/Dance and Art and Visual Culture, with assistance from other volunteers.

For further information, contact Carla Alsandor, director of alumni programs, at 318-869-5008.

Bruce Allen's parade entry in 2004 featured a group of legs sans torsos. (File photo courtesy of the Krewe of Highland)

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