Here is a  message from Venice Beach Mardi Gras event producer Miss Jessica!

2025 Mardi Gras events:

Feb. 22nd. The King’s Ball at the Venice Beach Bar.

• Starts at 5:00 p.m.
• 323 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291

March 8: The Venice Beach Mardi Gras Parade.

• Meet up 1:00 p.m.
• The Waterfront, 205 Ocean Front Walk.

A little Venice History:   

Following insert by Todd “Ace” VonHoffman, who got his nickname for allegedly hitting a hole in one at the West LA golf course par 3 hole.

Following insert by Jeffrey Stanton.  “Venice held its first annual Mardi Gras Festival August 16-18, 1935. The three day event featuring parades, costumes, contests and entertainment, was modeled after the New Orleans event.  It began with the arrival of King Neptune in an outrigger canoe followed by Queen Venetia’s coronation and a royal procession along Ocean Front Walk. The queen read a proclamation commanding her subjects to engage in three days of fun and frivolity. The afternoon parade featured floats and costumed merrymakers wearing enormous plaster of Paris heads that were manufactured in Arthur Reese’s studio.

Windward Avenue was roped off for a street carnival where wandering gondoliers entertained. The parade included Keystone Cops and people wearing enormous plaster of Paris head gear. The king and queen’s float along Venice’s Ocean Front Walk. – 1938. There was an afternoon treasure hunt for children and an evening program of aquatic events on Saturday. Sunday’s Miss California beauty pageant drew huge crowds, and a Mardi Gras Ball in the evening capped the celebration. The Mardi Gras Festival became an annual event of considerable importance prior to World War II. It became bigger and better each succeeding year and civic pride improved. By 1941 five hundred thousand people attended the expanded four day event in its final year.  For more history on Venice, visit Jeffrey Stanton’s website.

View past photos of the Venice Beach Mardi Gras experience by Venice Paparazzi!