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Party Nazis

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Composed of a board headed by Soulard business owners and neighborhood associations, Mardi Gras Inc. hired a full-time executive director and established a budget of around a quarter-million dollars. Under Lorson's guidance, that budget has increased threefold. Lorson says the additional funds are necessary to cover the rising costs of throwing the party, including paying for some 800 portable toilets ($40,000) and several miles of parade barricades ($30,000). Lorson's salary accounts for approximately $70,000 of the budget.

But increased sponsorships aren't the only revenue fueling Mardi Gras Inc.'s expanding budget. So, too, are beer and alcohol sales generated through a subsidiary nonprofit called the Mardi Gras Foundation. That organization was formed in 2003 for the purpose of raising money for Soulard community projects and serving as an additional fundraiser for Mardi Gras Inc.

The foundation, whose officers include St. Louis Democratic Committee Chairman Brian Wahby and City Hall lobbyist Lou Hamilton, hosts the annual Mayor's Ball that kicks off Mardi Gras. It also organizes the nonprofit and charitable organizations that staff more than a dozen beer and alcohol booths working the streets of Soulard during Mardi Gras.

In 2004 the Mardi Gras Foundation took in more than $400,000, according to its most recent financials. More than half of that revenue — $242,000 — came from alcohol sales during the Saturday of the Grand Parade, with the foundation taking a 65 percent cut of all vendor sales. The charities working the booths earn the remaining proceeds. Last year the foundation doled out $20,000 of its proceeds to Soulard community projects. A far greater amount — as much as $75,000 — went to fund Mardi Gras Inc.

Brian Wahby, volunteer president of the Mardi Gras Foundation, says he hopes that in the future Mardi Gras Inc. will not need the proceeds from the alcohol sales. Until then, the foundation is there to ensure the parent organization meets its budget, especially when factors such as the weather and poor ticket sales can negatively affect revenues for Mardi Gras Inc.

Soulard bar owners, meanwhile, argue that the nonprofit alcohol vendors employed by the foundation work in direct competition with their businesses during the festival. Moreover, the vendor program has also attracted the attention of authorities. Peter Lobdell of the state's Alcohol and Tobacco Control confirms his agency's investigation extends into how Mardi Gras Inc. raises money through the sale of alcohol, as well as how it issues permits to the outside vendors. In order to sell alcohol on the streets, the nonprofit vendors must apply for a liquor license through the city's excise division — but it's Mardi Gras Inc. and the Mardi Gras Foundation that determine which vendors will be forwarded to the city for approval.

St. Louis Excise Commissioner Bob Kraiberg, for the record, says he's unaware of any problems with Mardi Gras' vendor program and notes that events such as Fair St. Louis and Laclede Landing's Big Muddy Festival operate in much the same manner.

Equally puzzling to bar owners is yet another Mardi Gras Inc. subsidiary that sprang up last year. Mardi Gras Forever, according to filings with the Secretary of State's office, was formed to "organize, sponsor, manage, administer, plan, coordinate and raise money for a public event called St. Louis Soulard Mardi Gras."

The organization is headed by Tim Lorson's younger brother, Kevin Lorson, who works as a Soulard bar manager. Mardi Gras Forever has yet to file its financial records, but Tim Lorson insists that his brother's position is unpaid. The organization, says Tim Lorson, works primarily to raise funds for neighborhood-improvement projects. It recently donated $30,000 to build a wrought-iron fence around the park next to the Soulard Market.

But such generosity fails to resonate with Denny Hammerstone and other Soulard bar owners, many of whom are left scratching their heads at the various roles Mardi Gras Inc. and its subsidiaries play in hosting the festival.

"It's definitely become more political with each passing year," complains Hammerstone, who's grown nostalgic for the days before Soulard's neighborhood block party became an institution controlled by Mardi Gras Inc. "Do we really need 700,000 people down here each year? It certainly was easier back then."

"Victims of our own success" is how bar owner and Mardi Gras Inc. supporter Johnny Daus puts it. "Has Mardi Gras become too commercial? Sure. Believe me, nothing irks me more than stadium naming rights and all the corporate sponsorships you see in professional sports. But when you're running an event as big as Mardi Gras, all of a sudden you become the same kind of whore. Tell you the truth, I'm surprised we don't have official sponsors for the porta-potties. Somebody has got to pay for this stuff."

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