When you’re talking to Ron Barrett about “Mardi Gras season” in Mobile, you’re going to need to clarify what you mean.

What the public knows as Mardi Gras season are those six weeks or so before Ash Wednesday, culminating in the day of partying on Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

But Barrett focuses on the “social season” that lasts much longer.

“The social season in Mobile goes from Thanksgiving to Lent,” Barrett said. “You know, Mardi Gras was not always about Lent. Mardi Gras was about New Year’s Eve until after the Civil War. Mardi Gras doesn’t have anything to do with Easter or Lent because it was started in August for the Feast of St. Louis.”

Barrett would know, because if you’re going to have an event during the “social season” that is of any consequence, most likely Barrett is going to be involved. This year, Barrett is producing 36 Mardi Gras balls.

Ron Barrett knows how to set the perfect scene for Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama from Alabama News Center on Vimeo.

“We enjoy a social season and what I do is I produce events for the social season,” he said. “Mardi Gras balls start the night before Thanksgiving. The biggest Mardi Gras ball there is is the night before Thanksgiving called the Camilla Ball, and it introduces all of the young girls who are available for all of the events during the year.”

In four years, Barrett will mark his 50th year working with the Camilla Ball. Today, it’s hard to find a ball or event in the social season that doesn’t have Barrett’s fingerprints.

That’s a lot of history, a lot of flowers, a lot of fabric, a lot of ribbon and a lot of fun.

There are Mardi Gras Christmas groups, Mardi Gras New Year’s groups, and so much happens before what the public knows as Mardi Gras season, and even that seems to be a moving target on the calendar, Barrett said.

Truth be told, it’s Mardi Gras or social season all year long for Barrett.

“People who are going to lead it the next year, they come find me the next week,” he said.

Planning for next year will start this spring. Barrett will produce drawings and ideas in the summer. All of that planning and approval bleeds right into the social season.

“It never stops,” he said.

Mr. Mardi Gras

How did Barrett become the guy when it comes to producing Mardi Gras balls?

“I’m going to tell you the truth,” he said. “Lots of people want to do these jobs. Lots of people have taken these Mardi Gras jobs and do the art work. But the only way I can afford to do it is by doing all of them.”

Barrett said you would make no money by just doing one and a little bit of money by doing a few. Doing three dozen makes it scalable and worth doing financially.

But for Barrett, it’s not about the money.

A creation from Ron Barrett and his team. (contributed)

A creation from Ron Barrett and his team. (contributed)

A creation from Ron Barrett and his team. (contributed)

A creation from Ron Barrett and his team. (contributed)

A creation from Ron Barrett and his team. (contributed)

When Barrett was in the third and fourth grade, he would cut Mardi Gras images out of the newspaper and use homemade glue from flour and water to create his own magazines from the stories and photos.

“I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” he said. “When I was in high school, I would ride to Mobile, go to the auditorium and just look at those stages.”

After college, Barrett started producing balls and events and it grew from there.

Back then, all it took was some boxes and butcher paper to create a set. Add some color and it would do the job.

Things have certainly changed.

“They started off very simple,” Barrett said. “They started off with a very simple idea like, ‘Our theme is the enchanted garden,’ so we would do a little garden set. But now, they’re two- or three-act performances. Now, they are so over-the-top. Many groups just let me do anything I want to and mail them a bill when it’s over. It’s way over-the-top right now.”

When asked how much those bills can run, Barrett says it’s not polite in the South to talk about money.

Over the top

As for being over-the-top, Barrett said you can’t single out Mardi Gras for that.

“Our whole culture does that,” he said. “Clothes do that. Food does that. Parties do that. Our whole culture seems to be growing. Remember, the people that produce a Mardi Gras ball, they work for 300-400 people. So they make all of these great decisions and all of this kind of stuff – it’s not their money they’re spending. So it grows and it grows and they get more members and they get more floats to get more members to have more money to get more of everything – the balls are bigger, the food is bigger. It’s all gotten bigger and bigger and I’m just riding on the crest of it right now.”

Having done hundreds of sets over the years, it’s understandable that Barrett can’t pick a single favorite.

“My favorite thing is when I incorporate humans into the decorations – like humans into the flowers,” he said. “One of the most landmark ones I did was a theme of the four seasons.”

People were frozen to look like statues or bird baths or flowers and then the queen arrived. Suddenly all of the inanimate objects came to life and danced with the ballerinas.

“People got up from their seats and rushed up to the stage to see it,” Barrett said.

A creation from Ron Barrett and his team. (contributed)

Alabamians know that Mardi Gras started in Mobile and not New Orleans, even though the Crescent City is the one most associated with the carnival season across the country and around the world.

Barrett says it makes sense that it started in the Port City.

“It’s really amazing because it comes along with our Southern demeanor,” he said. “We’re nice, we’re friendly, we’re sociable. We remember people and because of all of those ingredients, we’re real social and we fit into a group of 300 people. We love to get dressed and all spiffed up and go out and see everybody. It’s in our nature as Southern people.”