Mardi Gras West Aims to Create Image for Valley

Hoping that a series of regional events will help give the San Gabriel Valley its own identity, 22 chambers of commerce have launched what they hope will become an annual celebration called Mardi Gras West.

A parade in Alhambra and a gala ball in Pasadena were scheduled Saturday. Baldwin Park has chosen a Mardi Gras theme for its 33rd anniversary parade on Jan. 21.

Area officials hope that a number of events with a Mardi Gras theme will be held each year in a number of San Gabriel Valley cities.

Mardi Gras West was the brainchild of Chambers-America, a consulting firm hired a year ago by the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce to promote the city and surrounding communities.

Like many of its neighboring cities, Alhambra has a difficult time attracting businesses because it is not well known to investors and developers, said Dick Nichols, executive director of the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce.

Valleys Confused

“The first question is ‘where is Alhambra,’ so you spend an hour explaining where Alhambra is,” said Nichols.

“When you say ‘the Valley,’ people think of the San Fernando Valley,” said Nichols. “We’re trying to make people realize what the San Gabriel Valley is.”

Alhambra Chamber President Annie Siu said a marketing study showed that the San Gabriel Valley lacks a unifying image.

Unlike the San Fernando Valley, most of which is part of the city of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley is a network of 26 cities, each with its own agenda.

Although Pasadena, on the west end of the San Gabriel Valley, draws national attention each year with the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl, the rest of San Gabriel Valley communities continue to struggle in obscurity, said Siu.

“It only identifies Pasadena,” Siu said of the Rose Parade. “We have to say we are near Pasadena.”

To draw San Gabriel Valley communities together, Atlanta-based ChambersAmerica proposed a Mardi Gras theme that each city can work into its community events between December 30 and Feb. 7. During the Christmas holidays, Alhambra merchants decorated store windows with masks and other Mardi Gras ornaments.

A Mardi Gras theme was chosen because it is a celebration that accommodates the diverse cultures of the San Gabriel Valley, said Len Pagano, ChambersAmerica chairman.

Alhambra was to begin Mardi Gras West with a parade on Main Street Saturday morning featuring 60 entries, including five floats. The day was to be capped off with a black-tie masquerade ball at the Plaza Pasadena Mall for more than 800 persons. The 22 chambers of commerce were to host the banquet, featuring Cajun specialties.

The Tournament of Roses supports the Mardi Gras West celebration even though the Alhambra parade was to be held just two days before the Rose Parade.

“We look at it as being tied to their (Rose Parade) float publicity,” said Kristin Mabry, a spokeswoman for the Tournament of Roses. The Mardi Gras West ball is listed in the official Rose Parade calendar of activities.

Alhambra is co-sponsoring a Rose Parade float with Mobile, Ala., another ChambersAmerica client.

In 1703 Mobile became the first U.S. city to celebrate Mardi Gras, said Pagano. More than 180 Mobile residents flew to California to help launch Mardi Gras West. “They want to show us what a Mardi Gras parade is like,” said Siu.

Community leaders in the area hope that Mardi Gras West will become a San Gabriel Valley tradition.

Said Siu: “We are trying to make it so people will say, ‘Oh yes, I know where the San Gabriel Valley is.’ ”