Building Mardi Gras floats for the carnival festivities

Over at the Float Den, across from the East Biloxi Public Library, a man and a couple of his crew members have been building parade floats for nearly 40 years.

News 25 went out there to speak with Doug Blom, the float builder for the Gulf Coast Carnival Association’s floats.

From the outside, it’s an unassuming warehouse and on the inside, it’s a silent party waiting to be unleashed.

Today, the floats were being loaded down with bags and bags of bead necklaces.

Many of the floats were made some time ago, having remained dormant during the COVID wave. Blom said, “In man hours, it’s probably in a month, from the ground up. It depends on the size and what they want on it as far as the cost goes. We’ve built every one of them in here, been doing it for 37 years.”

You can see Doug’s handiwork at the Mardi Gras parade in Biloxi on Tuesday.