Bethesda Meadow residents make Mardi Gras magic

A festive Mardi Gras tradition that was started nine years ago by a Bethesda Meadow volunteer continued this year, complete with wheelchair floats, colorful beads, masks, feather boas, New Orleans-style rhythms and the coronation of the King and Queen of Carnival.

Tom Smith, who passed away in February 2011, founded the Bethesda Meadow Mardi Gras Parade in 2003, when his wife, the late Marjorie Smith, was a resident of the Ellisville skilled nursing facility. The Smiths formerly resided in New Orleans and were married in The Crescent City when Tom was 19 and Marjorie was 16. Marjorie was crowned Bethesda Meadow’s first Queen of Carnival.

This year’s celebration, held on Feb. 21, was dedicated to and held in memory of Tom Smith. After gathering in a staging area on the facility’s lower level, residents rode their festively decorated wheelchair “floats” to the first floor, where George Steiger, 87, and Kathy Smith, 67, were crowned King and Queen of Carnival. The parade proceeded throughout the building, with residents, volunteers and staff members distributing Mardi Gras doubloons, candy, coins and beads along the way.