Uncle Shoehorn’s Big Easy to hold Mardi Gras Ball

Uncle Shoehorn’s Big Easy and the New Yorleans Horns, a Hudson Valley-based tribute to New Orleans heritage music, are preparing for a busy 2025. Festivities kick off on March 1 with the band’s 10th anniversary Mardi Gras Ball at the Blue Arrow Farm on Glenwood Road in Pine Island.

Enjoy brass-blasted New Orleans funk, jazz and blues, and an authentic second-line parade featuring hand-crafted Mardi Gras parade floats, giant puppets, zany totems and all the traditional trappings of Mardi Gras. Blue Arrow’s large venue is transformed into a replica of the famous French Quarter and illuminated by a light show. The band also distributes copious beads, masques, complimentary king cakes, and Zapp’s chips.

Blue Arrow Farm offers beer, wine, specialty cocktails and a new menu including several NOLA menu items like crawfish Monica and crawfish bread. Find tickets online by visiting BlueArrowFarm.com or UncleShoehorn.com. Tickets are $25 presale or $30 at the door.

Uncle Shoehorn’s “Groove Krewe,” a team of roughly two dozen local creatives and makers help build the Mardi Gras parade floats every year. In past years, they’ve produced a paddlewheel river boat, a giant alligator, a New Orleans streetcar, a 20-foot-long pirate ship with giant jester skull, and a life-sized façade of the famous Central Grocery in the French Quarter – home of the muffuletta sandwich.

“This year, the overall party theme is ‘crawfish,’” said bandleader Tony Vee. “We’re building a 10-foot-tall crawfish and boil kettle on wheels promoting our summer appearance at Michael Arnone’s 32nd Annual Crawfish Festival at the Sussex Fairgrounds in Augusta, NJ.”

2025 crawfish festival

This local act has also been invited to perform their favorite NOLA music alongside the many New Orleans musicians at Michael Arnone’s 32nd Annual Crawfish Festival in Augusta, NJ. This year’s lineup includes New Orleans R&B, brass, Delta blues, zydeco, Cajun and gospel music on two stages over three days. NOLA luminaries such as Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Marcia Ball, Bonerama, Southern Avenue, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and dozens more groups will also be at the festival. Festivities begin Friday night, May 30 (when Uncle Shoehorn performs with Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes and Amis Du Teche), and continue through the weekend. Camping is available.

Top New Orleans chefs at the event will serve up a giant crawfish boil, jambalaya, fried oyster po’ boys, crawfish etouffee, gumbo, red beans and rice, and other New Orleans delicacies and cocktails. Tickets can be purchased at Crawfishfest.com; use promo code “Shoehorn” to get a Friday night ticket.