Krewe of Southdowns’ 2025 king and queen are Baton Rouge Mardi Gras veterans

For years, he’s been the driver of the Krewe of Southdowns’ signal vehicle—the guy in the parade’s first truck who sets a slow and careful pace for the procession of floats.

She’s been a founding member of the parade’s quirky Stranger Krewe, a walking troupe of enthusiasts who riff on the Netflix show Stranger Things, among other pop culture references, to inspire their themed costumes and dance moves.

But this year, Keith Bonnette and Cathy Raborn are taking a break from those roles to serve as the king and queen of the Krewe of Southdowns. From high atop their float, they’ll toss beads and throws to the thousands gathered throughout the neighborhood as the city’s original night parade rolls Friday, Feb. 28.

“I was so surprised to be named king,” says Bonnette, a Baton Rouge native and mechanical engineer involved in the parade since 1992, five years after its founding. Bonnette and his LSU friends operated a float in the parade until 1997, when he began driving the lead truck.

Starting at Glasgow Middle School, the family-friendly favorite sneaks through Southdowns to its final destination in the Acadian Perkins Plaza shopping center. Its well-known wacky creativity is expressed through traditional floats, a troupe of torch-toting flambeaux, and various walking and dancing groups in illuminated garb.

“I have to say, it was a bucket list goal of mine,” Raborn says of being anointed queen. Raborn got involved in the parade after she and her husband, Mike, returned to Baton Rouge from Atlanta in 1994. They bought a house near the parade route then and were thrilled to resume living in a place steeped in Carnival culture. Residing in Georgia, the two had gotten involved in a krewe, but it wasn’t the same.

“You’d throw throws and nobody would know what to do,” Raborn says. “They’d just stand there and let them hit them in the head.”

“We love the Southdowns parade,” Raborn continues. “It’s a great social event for Baton Rouge.”

This year’s theme is “Safari,” but Raborn is mum on what that might mean for her queen’s costume.

“People will just have to come out and see,” she says. “It may be typical, and it may be something completely off the wall.” southdowns.org

This article was originally published in the February 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.