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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Mardi Gras may be the greatest free party on the planet, but a lot of work goes into getting each parade’s signature floats ready to roll.

And when it comes to constructing parade floats, the artists at Kern Studios are second to none.

Each year, they paint, sculpt, patch, and redesign dozens of floats for krewes big and small.

While the talented artists in the Kern Studios prop shop in Mardi Gras World have to have a keen eye for detail and a deft touch with colors, they also have to stay on their toes each day.

“My favorite thing about working at Blaine Kern is that I never know what I’m going to arrive to in the morning,” Artist Alissa Ayres said. “It’s always something different.”

Ayres spent a recent afternoon touching up a giant donkey wearing a shirt and vest for the Krewe of Orpheus before moving on to a great white shark bursting out of a toilet for the always skatalogical Krewe of Tucks.

It was just another day in the land of pure imagination as the artists at Kern Studios build Mardi Gras, one float at a time.