While Mardi Gras, the city's biggest party, was still days away, New Orleans was already immersed in celebration at the end of last week, with massive parades rolling every night along several miles of oak-draped St. Charles Avenue.

Families and friends gathered by the thousands along the route to take in the spectacular parades, which are staged by organizations known as "krewes." The processions often feature celebrities among the costumed riders on dozens of elaborate floats that celebrate Greek mythology and are interspersed with marching bands, dancers and men carrying flaming torches.

Eleven-year-old Mackenzie Reagan and her mother stood amid the throngs who came out Thursday evening for a parade trifecta that included the all-female Krewe of Muses parade.

"I can't wait for Muses," the young girl shrieked. "I love seeing the ladies' costumes, and I really hope I catch some shoes."

Float riders in every parade toss colorful trinkets known as "throws" to the crowds, and miniature high-heeled shoes coated with colored glitter are the signature throw of the Krewe of Muses. Along with the plastic-bead necklaces tossed by every krewe, the shoes are among the most sought-after trinkets of Carnival.

"From the beginning we knew we wanted our throws to be girly things, like lipstick, compacts and shoes," Krewe of Muses founder Staci Rosenberg said in an interview a few days before the parade.

Rosenberg started Muses to give women an opportunity to enjoy the thrill of riding in Carnival processions. The parades have been dominated by men since the 19th-century founding of the city's oldest Mardi Gras organizations such as the krewes of Rex and Proteus