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Last year when we heard about Mobile, Alabama-based Keyhole Photo and husband and wife team Meggan and Jeff Haller's Mardi Gras photography project, we gave them a call to find out more. They decided to start documenting the festivities — Mobile is credited with holding the first official Mardi Gras in 1703 — a few years before by attending parades, pageants, balls and a few of the more secret happenings around the city. Meggan says this year will be no different and agreed to share a few more photos with us. "We are still just chipping away at the project little by little, and I think this year's Mardi Gras is going to present us some wonderful opportunities," she said by e-mail from Mobile. "Everyone has their own Mardi Gras traditions — that's what the celebration is about — and we always welcome suggestions." Keyhole Photo's Mardi Gras Project pics can be viewed in the "Bon Temps" gallery on their website and in our photo essay from last year. The Hallers ask that groups with annual traditions, secrets, after-parties and general Mardi Gras stories to tell contact them through their site. To find out more about Mobile Mardi Gras and

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I can remember eating a few banana-flavored MoonPies as a kid, but can honestly say I haven't had one since. Not so for the people of Mobile, Ala. On New Year's Eve, the MoonPie madness kicks off with the annual Moonpie Over Mobile. When the clock strikes midnight, a 600-pound electronic MoonPie rises above the city skyline to signal the start of the carnival season. In 2008, the city partnered with founder of the MoonPie, Chattanooga Bakery, to serve up the world's largest marshmallow sandwich, weighing in at 55 pounds and four feet in diameter. The bakery also handed out 5,000 of the treats. In Mobile, the MoonPie obsession continues through Fat Tuesday, as the sandwiches are a popular throw for krewes. Chattanooga Bakery's website explains how the sandwich made its way to Mobile from Tennessee. "If you've ever caught a MoonPie from a parade float on the Gulf Coast, you have the 70's to thank," the site says. "Early on, paraders threw Cracker Jack boxes to hungry revelers, but those didn't feel so hot in the side of the head." According to mardigrasdigest.com, Cracker Jacks were banned as throws in 1972, and two years later the Maids of Mirth began throwing

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Photo by Keyhole Photo Mardi Gras officially began in Mobile, Alabama, in 1703, a full 15 years before the city of New Orleans was even founded. Mobile's first masked ball, Masque de la Mobile, was held the following year and the first parade in 1711. Sixteen men pushed a cart carrying a papier mache cow's head through town. Mobile Mardi Gras has evolved and expanded since its rustic beginnings, but mystery and intrigue still surround the celebration, with secret krewes and masked figures often reveling behind closed doors. The public side of Mobile Mardi Gras has grown enormously since that first 16-member parade, with 41 parades on the schedule for this year and almost a million people estimated to attend the festivities. After moving back home to Mobile from Ohio, photographer Meggan Haller and her husband, Jeff, a native of Nebraska, decided to start documenting Mardi Gras in Mobile. Owners of Keyhole Photo, the couple has spent several years photographing parades, pageants, balls, bands and a few behind the scenes goings on. Photo by Keyhole Photo Photo by Keyhole Photo "There's a lot of different ways to celebrate Mardi Gras here," says Meggan, "and I'm fascinated by all of the different aspects." "Some are very

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