2023-01-04
A short, personal memoir and tribute to a Mardi Gras artist.
When McKinley J. “Mackie” Cantrell III died in 2021 at the age of 47, he left behind family, including a daughter, as well as hundreds of floats and props that he created, which were used to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. These legacies were intertwined because Cantrell was a third-generation float builder. Fischer, his cousin, tells Cantrell’s story and recounts the history of the family business but focuses in on his own memories of this generous man. Fischer was seven and a half years younger, and he tells of how Cantrell became his mentor in multiple ways; he writes of how they played music together, went camping on Cantrell’s parents’ land in Louisiana, and worked together in the float den. Fischer moved away from New Orleans in 2012, and although he and Cantrell stayed in touch, they did not see each other much in the last 10 years of Cantrell’s life. They’d just missed each other on Christmas Day 2021, and two days later, on Dec. 27, Cantrell died of a heart attack: “I knew he was hurting, but he was always the strongest man I knew. I thought we had decades left together.” Fischer presents the material as a collection of stories, illustrated with about two dozen full-color photos by Fischer’s and Cantrell’s families. The information about Cantrell is consistently engaging, as is the author’s account of the business side of the celebration of Mardi Gras. Many readers will be surprised to find out that preparations for the event are always underway and employ a great many people year-round. The book, however, feels hastily put together and seems to lack organization. Most stories are stream-of-consciousness accounts that confusingly move around in time. It’s clear that recording these memories was cathartic for the author, but they lack both polish and key elements, such as descriptions of Cantrell’s most striking pieces and artistic style.
An earnest but rambling remembrance of a creative loved one.
