Mardi Gras Mike: 13-foot tall Tiger travels across the nation for College World Series

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Louisiana First Sports Reporter Brian Holland caught up with the creator of the 13-foot float, Mardi Gras Mike.

Mardi Gras Mike was built in New Orleans by a custom design company, Kern Studios. A manager at Kern Studios, Chris Richier, shared some details about the float.

“It’s a float,” said Richier. “It’s not just a tiger. So it’s got multi-use. If you go up against it, it’s fiberglass. The eyes blink on it, the lights blink on it, and it roars. And they’ve got to do all the paint work on it. And you can see I mean, that’s a little wire, sort of whiskers, but solid. I mean, it didn’t do anything coming down the highway.”

Richier said it took just about six months to complete.

To take Mardi Gras Mike on the road, the structure had to remain under 13-feet-six-inches; he stands at 13-feet-five-inches.

During the over 15-hour drive from New Orleans to Omaha, Richier said he did not get pulled over by police or any fans interested in taking photos with Mardi Gras Mike.

“You would have thought that just to get they could take pictures, you know, the police and everything. But no, he said he never got pulled over. Never. He stopped it, stopped the rest areas and the hotel when he parked it. And it’s here now.”

Fans could see Mardi Gras Mike around more sports than just baseball.

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