The Original Big 7 Social Aid & Pleasure Club—the 17-year-old community leadership organization based in the 7th Ward—will host a “re-do” of its annual Mother’s Day parade with a reborn second line on Saturday, June 1 on its original stomping grounds. The club’s 2013 parade on May 12 was rattled with the violence of a shooting that injured at least 19 people while the second line was in progress.

Original Big 7 Mother's Day Parade on May 12. Photo: Abdul Aziz

Original Big 7 president Edward Buckner says that support from the community in the neighborhood where the parade (and May 12 shooting) took place has been overwhelming. He added that although more people still need to be educated on the purpose of New Orleans social aid and pleasure clubs, he’s pleased to see that more proper media coverage on such violence is being reported. The media coverage, he feels, helped identify and make the capture of the perpetrators possible, and demonstrated that their actions had nothing to do with the parade itself.

Mayor Landrieu and the City of New Orleans have also been very supportive of the Original Big 7. Since the Mother’s Day tragedy, the group, which is rooted on Elysian Fields Avenue, was granted another day on the books to “re-do” their annual second line parade, which will begin to reinforce the value of the Big 7’s presence in the 7th Ward neighborhood. Buckner is adamant about their parade’s re-scheduling, noting the importance of lasting impressions and inspiring positivity within the community.

The Original Big 7 will roll Saturday, June 1 starting at 1 p.m. The gathering place will once again be at the address of their headquarters at 1825 Elysian Fields. The parade route will be the same as planned for Mother’s Day, with the exception of the N. Villere turn, which has been modified back to its original turn onto N. Robertson. The unplanned turn onto N. Villere is the place where the  May 12 shooting took place. The route has therefore been modified back to its original plan. “This is a route that the Big 7 has taken for many years,” stated Buckner, “and in all 17 years we have never had an incident until this year.” Big 7 leaders are confident in the parade’s safety and are excited to roll again this weekend.

ROUTE: please see below
NOTE: N. Villere St. turn is changed to N. Robertson St. turn