The Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu opened its new building at 701 Enterprise Boulevard in Lake Charles on April 17, 2026. The 6,000-square-foot museum stands in the Nellie Lutcher Cultural District, less than half a mile from Interstate 10. It replaces a museum that began in 1997 as a two-room exhibit in the Central School Arts and Humanities Center and grew to fill a wing; hurricane damage to that building closed it, and the exhibits went into climate-controlled storage.
Inside are about 275 costume mannequins and 14 animated characters, among them beaded and feathered gowns and the oversized headdresses that local krewes build. Visitors can try on costumes, learn how floats are made and ride a simulated parade. The displays cover the region's more than 60 active krewes, king cake, and the Courir de Mardi Gras, the rural chicken run.
The museum was conceived in the early 1990s by David R. O'Quinn, who founded the Krewe of Illusions in 1990, Anne G. Monlezun, who founded the Krewe de la Famille in 1980 and is known as the mother of Mardi Gras in southwest Louisiana, and krewe captains. Visit Lake Charles received a $1.6 million federal Economic Development Administration grant toward the rebuilding. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission in its opening year was $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and military and $8 for children.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour