Field Report: 2015 Valley Of Silent Men Social Aid And Pleasure Club

This past Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the Valley Of Silent Men Social Aid And Pleasure Club.

Valley Of Silent Men Social Aid And Pleasure Club

We were rightly excited to be able to document the affair.

Valley of Silent Men Social Aid And Pleasure Club

This particular second line got started a little later than is normal with a 3pm kickoff at Tapps II Bar in Central City.

Valley of Silent Men Social Aid and Pleasure Club

Taps I was located on Lee Circle before Katrina came along and ruined it.

2015 Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

As is custom there was a multitude of roving cocktail bars, beer wagons and ad hoc food trucks at the starting line.

2015 Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

Many would go on to accompany the procession but a handful elected to lay back and take care of the folks who only went down part of the route before returning to the jump off point.

2015 Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

We ate like kings off Chef Punch’s New Orleans Cajun Cooking food truck for our 500 Po Boys series.

And danced, and took a few hundred photos, and celebrated the beauty of Janice Riley, this years queen.

Queen Janice Riley at Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

Leon Anderson Sr. along with Henry Gettridge and John West, founded the Valley of Silent Men 30 years ago. Sadly, Mr Anderson and John West are no longer with us.

Big Man Kept The Crowds Beat Back at Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

We bet the funerals of these two men were wild affairs filled with celebration.

Central City Summer 2015

After a mile or so following the Valley Of Silent Men we began to decamp back to the starting line. We’d been eyeballing the assortment of foods offered at Fox Bar and Tapps II and were eager to get back to the vendors and see about getting some victuals.

2015 Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

Sage move.

2015 Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

Both Luke’s Family Catering (char-grilled oysters) and Chef Punch (Hot Sausage Po Boy) were putting out premium grade second line chow.

2015 Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club

There’s something about sitting in the gutter in Central City with an ice cold Heineken and a styrofoam clam-shell stuffed with gulf oysters that we find really satisfying.