Tyin’ the knot Mardi Gras style
Albany couple gets married at Mardi Gras Street Festival
By Brad McEwen
ALBANY — A lot of exciting things have happened over the decade anmd a half of of the Mardi Gras Street Festival in downtown Albany, but this year’s celebration featured a Mardi Gras first as a local couple exchanged wedding vows in front of a packed festival audience Saturday evening.
Van and Beth Barksdale thrilled the Mardi Gras crowds when they decided that after three and half years of dating it was time for the two of them to become husband and wife.
Barksadale, owner of Peach State Painting and Repair in Albany, said he and his fiancee had been discussing getting married for some time. When they woke up Saturday morning, they both felt it was time.
“Well, it happened this morning, so it was very impromptu,” he said of their decision.
Thanks to the help of some of the couple’s friends, they were able to pull everything together in time to tie the knot around before the sun set.
“Everybody was so kind and so generous for making this happen,” said Beth Barksdale. “Billy Mann and Bo Henry, and Phil Cannon, they were great. And Janet and Jamie, everybody. We just love our Albany family.” Cannon and Henry were instrumental in launching the Mardi Gras festival and have been involved with it ever since.
Since the couple first met at a Stewbo’s Restaurant Group eatery, the Harvest Moon, it was only fitting that Mann, president of Stewbo’s, perform the ceremony.
After the couple exchanged vows and shared their first kiss, Henry, one of the owners of Stewbo’s, performed a solo rendition of the Rolling Stone’s “Wild Horses” as the couple shared their first dance as husband and wife — right in the middle of Pine Avenue.
“It’s incredible,” Beth Barksdale said as the couple finished their dance. “Incredible.”
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