Debutantes await their turn in the spotlight at the Krewe of Rex ball, held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans on February 16, 2010. The Rex Ball, and the meeting of the courts of Rex and Comus, traditionally signals the end of the Mardi Gras season.

The Krewe of Rex is the oldest Mardi Gras krewe still parading and is responsible for many traditions, including the colors of Carnival and the doubloon. The krewe was started in 1872 by local businessmen, partly to...
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Debutantes await their turn in the spotlight at the Krewe of Rex ball, held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans on February 16, 2010. The Rex Ball, and the meeting of the courts of Rex and Comus, traditionally signals the end of the Mardi Gras season.

The Krewe of Rex is the oldest Mardi Gras krewe still parading and is responsible for many traditions, including the colors of Carnival and the doubloon. The krewe was started in 1872 by local businessmen, partly to put on a parade for the visiting Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia but mostly to drum up the economy in general in a post Civil War New Orleans. While very much a private organization and no stranger to discrimination, of the original krewes of Mardi Gras Rex was the most accessible and the only one to immediately comply with controversial 1991 city ordinance that aimed to de-segregate the old line krewes. Its motto is "Pro Bono Publico"- "For the Public Good".
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