Rae: A Drop of Golden Sun

Did you know the story of the Sun float that leads the King Arthur parade?

Rae the Sun has been a part of the King Arthur Parade since 1989. It is one of two floats crafted by the Bertuccelli family from Viareggio, Italy (the other being our Merlin float). Before joining King Arthur, Rae the Sun was originally built for the late Kevin Charpentier and La Société Française de la Louisiane’s “The French Parade,” which debuted in 1984 during the New Orleans World’s Fair.

Kevin Charpentier, a key advocate for relocating the King Arthur parade to the Eastbank of New Orleans, played a pivotal role in making this move happen.

Originally, the Rae float was manually powered by four costumed men, who rotated the sun’s rays as they pushed it along, symbolically “bringing the Sun.” There’s a superstition that ever since the Sun float has been part of the King Arthur parade, it has never rained on the procession. The only exception was the one year the Sun float was being refurbished, when rain did impact the parade.