The Magazine

Celebrate Mardi Gras with a foursquare badge

50

on February 19th, 2011

Mardi Gras badgeFor months, foursquare for WebOS developer Geoff Gauchet has been waging a campaign to convince foursquare to introduce a badge for Mardi Gras. Tonight it appears his efforts have paid off. Fat Tuesday is still a few weeks away, but Mardi Gras celebrations and preparations are already in full swing in New Orleans, and for those who are participating, there’s now a Mardi Gras foursquare badge.

It’s not clear exactly what it will take to earn your own Mardi Gras badge, but I have a feeling it’s a little more complicated (albeit less demeaning) than earning beads on Bourbon Street. Of course, in true foursquare style, that’s exactly what the unlock text refers to:

Show us your badges!

This is a wonderful celebration for foursquare to mark and it’s a badge that will certainly be popular among the people of New Orleans. Best of luck to you and your krewe!

This badge appears on the foursquare core badge list×

Thanks to Shawn Foret for sending this in!

  • http://foursquare.com/marquesrulzdood Marques

    I hope this badge will be avalible to everyone at one point and not just people in New Orleans.

  • http://www.foursquare.com/npyskater Gregorio Feliciano

    Hopefully we can get it anywhere because we have Mardi Gras going on here every weekend until April at Universal Studios.

  • akaCarioca

    Nice one! We should have had one for Gasparilla in Tampa Bay FL.

    Lets see if foursquare creates one for the real Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro Brazil!!!

  • Geoff Gauchet

    yep! I worked with foursquare closely to make this happen. I entered the venues in by hand, actually. I won’t give away how to unlock it, but it’s parades in the greater New Orleans area. I would have loved to have made it available outside of NOLA but since I handled venues myself, it wasn’t feasible.

    • Bus

      I’m in New Orleans, I’ve checked into two different parades as well as shouted “Happy Mardi Gras” in those checkins. I haven’t earned the badge yet. I’d say it’s time to spill the beans.

  • A Carioca

    About a bagde for carnaval in Rio I doubt they will create one!

  • John Simpson

    Marques :
    I hope this badge will be avalible to everyone at one point and not just people in New Orleans.

    I live in St. Louis and our Mardi Gras celebration is known as second only to New Orleans. I’d love to be able to get this badge in St. Louis.

  • Benedict Corpuz

    We actually had a Foursquare check-in special at SFO airport the other day to celebrate the new United SFO-New Orleans route. It was a Mardi Gras theme complete with a live band and Cajun food.

    Foursquare users who checked in got a SFO Airport reusable bag and recycled luggage tag made from actuall banners that have hung at SFO.

  • Joe

    Mannnn. I was at Mardi Grad last year…really hope this badge opens up to anyone who checks in at a bar on Fat Tuesday

  • Pingback: foursquare Introduces Mardi Gras Badge « Craig Smith's Expanded Ramblings

  • http://facebook.com/smail Smail

    @Geoff Gauchet

    If you would like help in adding other Mardi Gras and parade related venues in South Louisiana, let me know. I’m in Baton Rouge and have a full list of all the regional events. I’d love to help open this up to more folks!

  • Ev

    some people have unlocked it already http://twitter.com/#!/search/mardi%20gras%20badge

    • Ching Yu

      I have noticed it also with many users unlocking this badge already. It should be only unlocked on 1 day = March 8, 2011. Having this badge unlockable makes it not so special.

      • http://facebook.com/smail Smail

        almost all jumpers, too. No surprise there.

      • Waldo

        Carnival season starts in January. Parades & balls take place for weeks before Mardi Gras. Just wish they would have opened it to another cities with celebration such a Mobile, AL

  • josh

    So, if this is only available in the NOLA area, how is it that everyone who is unlocking the badge is from India, Indonesia, etc. Didn’t see an unlock by a person in NOLA.

  • Geoff Gauchet

    @Ching: actually parades in New Orleans started last weekend and happen almost daily until March 8th. The badge is unlockable before then as a result.

  • Geoff Gauchet

    @Ching: actually parades in New Orleans started last weekend and happen almost daily until March 8th. The badge is unlockable before then as a result. Also, it takes more than one checkin to unlock it.

  • http://matt.cuthbert.ws Matt

    So Mobile, Alabama, which has been held Mardi Gras celebrations every year since 1703 — longer than New Orleans — isn’t included? Typical Foursquare.

    • http://zhephree.com Geoff

      ::buzzer:: Wrong. I personally worked with foursquare and bugged the hell out of them to get this badge. I live in New Orleans. I put the effort for a New Orleans badge in myself.

      This is no different than the “Far Far Away” badge in New York.

      Long story short: I live in New Orleans and wanted New Orleans to have a badge, so I worked for months with foursquare to make one happen. If I lived in Mobile, I would’ve done the same there.

      I do agree that aside from New Orleans, Mobile and Rio have the most claim to Mardi Gras.

      • http://matt.cuthbert.ws Matt

        Geoff, I’m sorry that my comment came across as a swipe at your efforts, because I didn’t intend it that way. Your work in getting the badge created and setting up spots where it could be earned is commendable. I think it’s absolutely awesome that someone who’s not a Foursquare employee will take their passion and run with it, volunteering their time as such.

        My gripe is with Foursquare. It feels to me like they operate in a bubble with little care about what happens outside New York unless there’s a paid sponsorship. People continually defend them along the lines of “that’s how they make money.” And, yes, that’s true. But those advertisers are only there because the user base is there. Ignore the users long enough though, and they’ll flee.

        Right now, it seems like Foursquare holds its advertisers in higher regard than its users, and that’s a dangerous situation for their company. The fact that they paid attention to your requests for a Mardi Gras badge is great — but leaving a bulk of its implementation up to you isn’t the route they should take. They should invest themselves in the community that enjoys their service.

        It continues to come back to the idea of making Foursquare fun for EVERYONE (a point I tried to make in a single sentence with my comment above). Foursquare, though, frequently operates as a clique, where only the folks lucky enough to live near certain areas have any chance of earning badges. It’s a game that only a limited percentage of the user base can play — unless they want to cheat.

    • http://zhephree.com Geoff

      Psst… just a heads-up… you might wanna look for some parade venues in Mobile this weekend. just sayin…

  • Murilo Delmondes

    It should be available everywhere Carnival is celebrated since Fat Tuesday is not a holiday exclusive to New Orleans. Here in Brazil we just call it Carnival, but it is one of the most important and recognized and celebrated holidays in the whole country, not just in Rio.

  • http://saraoflaherty.com Sara O’Flaherty

    So let me get this straight, I live in Mobile, AL, **where Mardi Gras actually started**, but I can’t get the badge? Seriously?? #FAIL!!!

    • http://zhephree.com Geoff

      As a Mobile resident, you just might want to look for some parade venues on foursquare this weekend. Just, you know, maybe…

  • Bus

    Who said that it is EXCLUSIVE to NOLA? I’m going to try and unlock it at a place tagged “parade” in Panama City Beach with it’s upcoming parades. (I got my first two checkins in NOLA)

  • @getuliojardim

    They should create a badge to brazilian carnival!

  • http://www.picklescoop.com Shawn Foret

    I agree that Mobile should be eligible as well as Rio, as Mardi Gras was first celebrated in Mobile and Rio, well they’re party appears to be as crazy as ours, if not more. Glad to hear Mobile may be getting the chance to get it too. Geoff, glad that you pushed ‘em to create the badge for Mardi Gras. I don’t agree that it should be available everywhere for everyone to get, as some have said on here. I wasn’t eligible to earn the webby awards or wordcamp or any of the other event specific badges, having the badge is like having the sticker on your luggage. it shows you were there.

  • http://www.picklescoop.com Shawn Foret

    and actually, the first parades were January 6th. That’s King’s Day (Epiphany, 12th night). Phunny Phorty Phellows and Krewe of Joan of Arc.

  • http://foursquare.com/leonitsantos Leonardo Santos

    We want a specific badge for brazilian carnival!!!!!
    Join Us !!!!! http://4sqmobs.com/5dcb65

  • heather

    What about the Mississippi Gulf Coast? While Mobile and NOLA have the most claim, seems sad to leave the other gulf coast places out. Maybe I’m just bitter because I’m going to parades in the Biloxi area the weekend before fat tuesday.

  • Nawlins1974

    I think the badge should be available where Mardi Gras and Carnival are a tradition, not some party full of boobs and beads that started a few years ago. I was born and raised in New Orleans and I’m Catholic so I understand and respect the tradition of this celebration. There are other states and countries that celebrate the true Carnival and I say give those locations the opportunity to unlock the badge and NO WHERE ELSE. I currently live and Austin and love this town, but the embarrassing spectacle they call Mardi Gras is tasteless and you should NOT be able to earn the badge here.

    Foursquare – I say allow the true celebrating cities and countries earn their Mardi Gras/Carnival badges.

    And P.S. – Rio, us New Orleans natives call it Carnival too. :)

    • Murilo Delmondes

      It’s true. It’s Carnival everywhere. What I meant is that the terms Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday (which in Portuguese would be “Terça-feira Gorda”) are far less known around here.

      I have to admit that Brazilian Carnival is kind of far away from the original tradition as of today, but that’s because it suffered the influence of many other cultures here. Still, it’s Carnival and it’s one of the biggest spectacles on Earth.

      • Nawlins1974

        i just didn’t know if you knew we called it carnival too, not just mardi gras. and i think your carnival seems like a wonderful party. its something i hope to see one day. its amazing that it took on a life of its own making it one of a kind to rio. just like mardi gras in new orleans is one of a kind because that city is one of a kind.

        i know it didn’t start in NOLA, but we took it, put our own spin on it and made it into our own unique celebration. it is now a part of our culture and heritage.

      • Murilo Delmondes

        Yes! That’s great when a tradition is transformed by the people who embrace it. I’d love to see the Carnival in New Orleans too, it must be something.

  • Murilo Delmondes

    Now, about the badge, does anybody figured out how to earn it? Celebrations here in the Southern Hemisphere won’t start util March, but I’m curious.

  • Leigh

    Geoff, you seemed to have missed that Lafayette has both a traditional and a New Orleans style Carnival all it’s own that is the second largest Mardi Gras in the state. Like Who Dat belongs to Who Dats everywhere, Mardi Gras belongs to the revelers. All celebrants deserve a badge as much as NOLA does.

  • Geoff Gauchet

    Leigh: it’s not just New Orleans. Lafayette, Houma, Bush, Mandeville, and more have elligible parade venues. I added all of Louisiana on day one. We added Mobile the following day.

  • heather

    so houma, bush, mandeville have eligible venues.
    again, I ask…what about the mississippi gulf coast? they have been running krewes for over 100 years in Mississippi, longer than houma which just started in the 50s.
    There are 23 parades in Mississippi. That’s gotta count for something.

  • Geoff Gauchet

    the simple answer is this: I live in New Orleans.

    I wanted a badge for New Orleans so I personally worked with foursquare to make it happen.

    I hate to sound exclusive, but honestly, that’s the reason.

  • Alex

    Dear Mobile, Alabama:

    NO ONE CARES.

    Love, New Orleans.

    • nawlins1974

      ha!

    • Kelly

      well said.

    • Bus

      #burn! ouch! Hey, at least it’s only a 2 hour drive to New Orleans from Mobile. Then again, the way people in Mobile drive, it’s 4 hours.

  • Rhiannon

    There should be three different badges: 1) for just people in NOLA, another for if you official check in Fat Tuesday, and 3) if you attend the BIG parade at the end of the Event in NOLA. It would help get people badges they want in NOLA and for people who want to get one just cause of Fat Tuesday.

  • Gabriel

    Didn’t mean to around anyone but here is a similar badge site and they have locations. Sorry about4sq.

  • Leigh

    I’m feeling like this badge being available in Lafayette is a bit of a fib. I’ve checked in at every parade in town, plus NOLA’s Krewe du Vieux, Krewe Delusion, Chewbacchus, Bacchus, and Endymion – still no badge. WTF?

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