Swampus Parade 2026

Storyboard
Written By Melanie Cole
 October 2026

It was a dark and stormy night, with creatures from the murky marshes parading through the Quarter, heralding the Halloween season.

- photos by Melanie Cole

Note: For optimum viewing, enjoy this feature with a large-screen device.

To learn more about the fascinating fantasy characters featured in this parade and the krewe’s focus on sustainability, read our story here. 

If your photo appears here, you may copy it onto your own computer and even share it on social media – please simply credit the photographer and French Quarter Journal – and consider joining our Readers' Circle to support our stellar creative team. 
These images have been optimized for fast loading on the internet, so they're not print quality. If you'd like to purchase print-quality files directly from our photographer, contact us here and we'll forward your email.

This feature is underwritten in part by the Mardi Gras Museum of Costumes and Culture

Melanie Cole

Brit by birth, Texan by persuasion, Melanie Cole was lured by the NOLA sirens in 2019. After college she accidentally found herself vagabonding around the globe in an international modeling career. By the 90s she’d ditched the runway heels for a thrift store army parka and torn jeans and began training as a graphic designer in Hamburg, Germany. She spent the following decades designing and developing print retail magazines for major publishing houses there.

Creating layouts that told stories in photos, together with her early years spent in front of a camera, honed her innate ability to capture the essence of a photographic story. She remains passionate about light, color, space, movement, people and their cultures, and visually documenting their stories.

Melanie lives with her two cats and loves to kayak LA/MS backwaters in her free time. Contact her at melanieshootsphotos@gmail.com and follow her at melnaieshootsphotos on Instagram.

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