GCCA Royalty Reveal

The royal king and queen of the Gulf Coast Carnival Association’s 109th year have been revealed.
During a royal reception at the Golden Nugget in Biloxi this afternoon, Queen Ixolib 2017 Molly Catherine Atherton and King D’Iberville 2017 Kent G. Nicaud met and mingled with members of the Gulf Coast Carnival Association.
Atherton was born and raised in Gulfport. She now lives in Austin, Texas. It has been nine months of driving back and forth to the Coast, serving as this year’s queen. Nicaud is from Pass Christian. He is the chief operating officer for Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. The two royals tell News 25 Mardi Gras is near and dear to their hearts.
Atherton said, “Mardi Gras is part of our heritage and our culture and it’s important to every single person here, and the parade is really a combination of everything where you really see the community come together and it’s a great equalizer and you see the smiles on kids’ faces and that’s there’s nothing better than that.”
Nicaud said, “Gulf Coast carnival is a community outreach, I think everyone enjoys it, and it’s something that everyone needs to remember the bad times, but this is the good times so I think it’s a good thing for everyone to do.”
After the royal reception, the crowd took part in a huge bead parade through decorated Mardi Gras themed hotel rooms.