Mardi Gras Southeast Texas - A non-profit volunteer organization

In April 1990, a casual conversation between two friends launched Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas. After nearly three years of planning and joined by 18 community minded non-profit organizations, the highly successful first event was held in Downtown Port Arthur in February 1993.

It is hailed by many as the catalyst that began a resurgence of downtown Port Arthur. The purposes envisioned by the founders were to benefit the member non-profit groups, to stage a family oriented affair, to promote interaction among diverse ethnic groups, to promote racial harmony and to serve as an economic development project for Southeast Texas.

Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas, Inc. received its non-profit Charter from the State of Texas on February 18, 1992 and the non-profit status was then confirmed by the Internal Revenue Service.