By Victoria Marty, The Gleaner

It's true: There was no need for umbrellas on Saturday. Yet the 2009 Street Strut isn't about convention.

In fact, if there are any rules to the 19th annual Mardi Gras style celebration of wackiness, it's that there are no rules.

That's why the woman who carried a green umbrella dangling miniature soccer balls was probably committing a technical foul ... somewhere.

Then there was the girl who rode a bicycle on which she had covered the tire slats (and her helmet) with pieces of aluminum foil.

And it could be why this year's Grande Ooh-Pee-Doo won the top award in a way that she said was accidental.

"I laid out a couple of things and said, 'I'm tired, I'm going to bed,' " Susie Rideout laughed, her black umbrella embellished with paintings of flowers that matched her dress.

"I learned something years ago," she added, her eyes twinkling behind a Mardi Gras-style mask. "You don't wear high heels."

That's probably good advice, considering the annual parade loops through several downtown streets and into Central Park.

This year's Street Strut even took place earlier than usual as the organizers decided it would be a good opening-day event for the W.C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival.

"We will definitely leave it like this," said Julie Turnipseed, executive director of the Downtown Henderson Project, which organized the parade.

"The spirit was there," she added. "It's a great marriage with the Taste of Henderson."

Compatibility aside, there were plenty of contrasts to be had as the strutters zigzagged their hips and waived their arms on the same streets that, come Monday, will see men and women hurrying toward the more orderly careers of law and finance.

The police escort helped, of course, as the "Whoop! Whoop!" of the siren cut in and out of Bob Minette and the Dixieland Society's rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In" and other songs.

Leslie Rideout and her sister, Katherine Posey, dressed as step-sisters, her mother, Paula Posey, was the fairy godmother, Savannah Rideout was the princess and Brayden Rideout was prince charming in the Cinderella group. They won the best group category.

"(Savannah) loved it," Leslie Rideout said as she held a quiet 11-month-old Brayden. "She likes to show off."

It was entertaining for those who don't participate, too. Mary Ruth Duckworth said she loves to watch the strutters come through the park.

"I think it's wonderful that they have this," the Henderson resident said. "It gives people a chance to show off their New Orleans strut."

As for Rideout, the event was just a way to have some fun.

"You take life so seriously all the time," she said. "You need to get out of that."