Mardi Gras 💜💚💛

THE 2026 REX BALL AND THE MEETING OF THE COURTS OF REX AND COMUS
Broadcast live on Mardi Gras day on Tuesday, February 17 at 7pm and 11:30pm.
Watch on WYES-TV. Stream on wyes.org/live, pbs.org and PBS app. Viewers outside WYES’ broadcast area—and around the world—can watch on the WYES YouTubechannel. Click above.

This marks the 30th year WYES will broadcast THE 2026 REX BALL AND THE MEETING OF THE COURTS OF REX AND COMUS. Peggy Scott Laborde serves as host and executive producer interviewing past royalty and special guests, with commentary from Errol Laborde, Arthur Hardy and Rex historians Will French and Dr. Stephen Hales. 

Comus, founded in 1857, is New Orleans’ oldest Carnival organization. It stages its pageantry on the same evening as Rex, founded in 1872. The Rex Ball is held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel while the  Comus Ball takes place at the New Orleans Marriott; the two hotels are across from each other on historic Canal Street. 

The first Meeting of the Courts took place in 1882.

Special thank you to our generous sponsors!

ARTHUR HARDY: OUR MARDI GRAS GUIDE
Premiered Thursday, January 22 at 7:30pm; ADDITIONAL AIRDATES BELOW
Watch on WYES-TV. Stream on wyes.org/live, pbs.org and on the PBS app. *For a limited time, it’s also available on the WYES YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUywBrhRnQE

Arthur Hardy’s name is synonymous with New Orleans Mardi Gras. The man who literally wrote the book on Carnival marks a milestone anniversary of his Mardi Gras Guide as he prepares for retirement. WYES celebrates the life and career of this local legend in the new documentary produced by Dennis Woltering.

The program’s generous sponsors can be found here.

STEPPIN’ OUT “It’s Carnival Time”
Premiered Thursday, January 29 at 7:30pm; ADDITIONAL AIRDATES BELOW
Watch on WYES-TV. Stream on wyes.org/live, pbs.org and on the PBS app.

Did you know STEPPIN’ OUT “It’s Carnival Time” first aired in 1987? WYES-TV’s beloved annual overview of the Carnival season returns for its 40th consecutive year. Host Peggy Scott Laborde welcomes Carnival historians Arthur Hardy—editor of Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide—and Errol Laborde, Mardi Gras historian, columnist, and author of When Rex Met Zulu and Other Chronicles of the New Orleans Experience.

This year’s discussion includes “The First Carnival: Mobile vs. New Orleans,” the 60th anniversary of the Krewe of Endymion, and the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers, a historic Black cavalry unit that originated in New Orleans. Hardy also reflects on 50 years of publishing Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide.

Sponsored by: Octavia Books, Criollo, City of New Orleans / Arts New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Inc., Eugenie & Joseph Jones Family Foundation, Gayle & Tom Benson Charitable Foundation and Susie & Pierre G. Villere

During the Carnival season, WYES will release a “Carnival Close-Up with Peggy Scott Laborde” online only on WYES’ YouTube channel. Each segment will highlight some of Laborde’s favorite pieces from her collection of Mardi Gras memorabilia, with slices of Carnival history as we count down to the big day.

Sponsored by: Plush Appeal

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