What a Social Aid and Pleasure Club Is
It did not start as a parade. It started as a burial society. Black New Orleanians, shut out of insurance, pooled dues so that when a neighbor died they could be buried properly and with a band. That was the social aid. The pleasure is what you see on Sunday afternoon: four hours of brass, footwork, and a whole neighborhood walking behind it.
Nobody sells you a seat at a second line. You just fall in. What this club sells is the comfort around it — a wristband that puts you on the rolling bar, a table at the ball with a bottle already on it, a section at the third stop with plates coming off the grill. You still walk. You just walk taken care of.
The Bayou Road Steppers
Chartered in 1998 and rooted in Mid-City. We take our name from Bayou Road, the oldest road in New Orleans — the old portage route that ran from the river to the bayou long before there was a city here. Twenty-six members. Twelve events a year. One parade in July that shuts the neighborhood down.
The Social Aid
Dues still do what they always did. Sickness, funerals, families. The Chaplain handles that side and it never goes on the website.
The Pleasure
Twelve events. Balls in the cold months, day parties in the warm ones, and the route in July when the whole city is here.
The Give-Back
School supplies every August, turkeys every November, handed out along a short route. Your ticket buys somebody dinner.
Membership
Membership is by sponsorship. A current member puts your name up, the officers vote, and you walk a season before you get your colors. If you want to ask about it, come to a stop and find the Sergeant-at-Arms.