The Krewe of Apollo’s annual ball is one of the Hub City’s most spectacular balls.

It features some of the most elaborate costumes in the area.

They put on quite a show, and they’ve had decades of experience.

“The 1st ball had a budget of about $5,000 which was fundraised by the krewe, tickets were not charges at that time,” says Kevin Doerr, president of the Mystique Krewe of Apollo.

A lot has changed since then, they have a lot more members and a lot more money.

“Planning for the ball starts the day after the ball. It takes an entire year with planning to coordinate, hard work and dedication,” Doerr says.

Organizers say the process takes great volunteers and lots of money.

“Our krewe has about 100 members who work very hard throughout the year to make this happen, countless hours go into making the costumes, planning the decorations,” Doerr explains. “The man hours is immeasurable, I couldn’t put a number on that. But the actual production itself we’re expecting a sold-out crowd.”

And sold out it was from the elaborate balls to parades.

Krewes shell out a lot of money; fees for members can range from thousands of dollars a year per person for the most elaborate parades to as little as $20 a year for smaller clubs. 

“We started building these floats in 2006.  We built 10 the first year and thereafter we’d build between 3 and 5 a year to build up to the 24 floats we have now,” says Larry Comeaux, President of the Krewe of Rio.

“They’re bright and colorful, they represent the colors of Brazil. our riders are vibrant – face painting is a requirement to ride our floats,” says Krewe of Rio Vice President Rachelle Meaux.

There are 650 riders that ride the floats in the Rio parade, but there are hundreds of thousands of beads.