The King is Dead! Long Live the King!
By Kurt Epps—the PubScout Feb 7, 2021
The cancelling of Mardi Gras in the Big Easy this year may be causing NOLAnders major distress, but fans in OIB remain unfazed.
That’s because Keith and Christa Berciunas, proprietors of Tap Time, the classic beer bar that has become the local hotspot for good times and good beer, made sure that Mardi Gras would indeed be celebrated—for the second year in a row. And friends like Ed and Alicia (L.) show up often for the fun.
The first iteration ran last year—pre-Covid—and was a smashing success, as a packed bar watched a King get crowned. Rex, as he’s known by the NOLA cognoscenti (if not his spouse,) won his crown by finding a baby in his slice of authentic Louisiana King Cake.
The find entitled him to the honor of wearing a crown for a year (albeit it was a tiara for a Princess, like Everly, below) ,and also put upon him the responsibility of providing the King Cake for the next year.
While last year’s King was both honored and humbled by his selection and duty-bound to fulfill his responsibilities this year, he decided that a new crown would have to be introduced to whomever the lucky cake-eater was this year. At Rex’s request, lady-in-waiting Eileen secured a more masculine crown that would grace the royal head.
And thus it was, in the Year of our Lord 2021, that master Neal Wyckoff, late of OIB Parish, was crowned as the new Mardi Gras Rex.
In another packed house (though always properly socially-distant), the new Rex found his baby, likely broke a denture and proclaimed it to the assembly (already pretty much half-in-the-bag) as a thunderous roar rose up from the local gentry, who set down their pitchforks and hoes to applaud--and drink.
The Princess’s tiara was (thankfully) donated to his wife, Sue, who happily agreed to wear it, much to the delight of her new REX husband who declared that he himself “preferred the newer version.
With Amelia’s Restaurant next door delivering NOLA-inspired dishes to anyone and everyone at TapTIme, guests were sated both with victuals and libations to celebrate the new REX.
There was even time for a brief “Happy Birthday” rendition to the wife of the former REX, who celebrated her entry into the Medicare Database.
So hearty was this Mardi Party that one guest, a dashing Hungarian chap, who sojourned all the way from Myrtle Beach, SC (apparently on foot) to attend, saw his footwear into crumble into pellets after receiving some beads and proceeded to dance a Czardas. So vigorous was his capering that he had to adorn his feet with plastic bags to contain the disintegration of his soles.
