The Krewe of Drips & Discharges 

Membership Policy & Procedures 

The Krewe of Drips and Discharges is a sub-krewe of the Krewe du Vieux parade organization.  We are an affiliation of friends, degenerates, Mardi-Gras revelers, fools and nutcases who are dedicated to one thing and one thing only – to have FUN! We are float-builders, painters, rhymers, decorators, cooks, schemers, writers, planners, beer brewers, tinkerers, drunkards, joint-rollers, jello-shot makers, and costume designers.  List any pursuit required to put on an incredible parade/float/all around “good time” with a group of 65 fascinating members – we do it. 

We meet multiple times throughout the year, with an increasing frequency the closer parade day gets. Initially, we meet to determine a theme for the year and to plan our activities. Then we start working on the float, costumes, throws, and any other hare-brained idea that suits our needs. This is interspersed with crawfish boils, fund-raisers, afternoons at the Den of Muses, and sometimes stripper performances, all of which frequently requires chugging a drink just to keep your sanity (or lose it, which might be better).  

Because the Drips are the best sub-krewe of the Krewe du Vieux (hear, hear), we are getting mighty popular. Last parade (2008) there were dozens of people out there just drooling to be a Drip. While in the past we’ve been able to offer membership to anyone who demonstrated the right amount of depravity, we have grown to a size that is likely to be our maximum. With the demand for membership ever increasing, we have been keeping a waiting list for people who want to get in. 

The straight-out waiting list process has shown to not really work for us. We’ve had people who show up and do a considerable amount of work with us on the float or on our events, who then did not get a membership because they were down too far on the list. On the flip-side, we’ve offered membership to people at the top of the list who then only show up on parade day. 

We’ve been busting our brains (in more ways than one) to try to come up with a fair and just way of giving out the few precious memberships that free up every year. Here’s what we wanted to achieve: 

• As few rules as possible. We HATE rules! 
• Membership should go to people who contribute, are fun and understand the spirit of KdV and the Drips. 
• Create a process that is quick and does not require a lot of work 
• Acquiring membership should not be competitive (i.e. we don’t want to give out memberships based on who contributed the most, second most, and so on) 
• Fairness 
• Ensure that the Drips remain a diverse, New Orleans-based crowd 

We need to make these distinctions about membership:
 

• A Member is someone who has paid membership dues directly to the Drips’ in the last parade season. A member can repurchase their membership at the beginning of the next season. A member who does not march for two consecutive years relinquishes their right to membership.

• A Temp is someone who marches in a member’s spot, but has no claim on a membership or marching spot in the following year. 

• A Driplet is someone who is given a membership for the period of one season. If this member contributes to our efforts and lives up to the spirit of the Drips, their membership will become a full membership at the end of the season. 

Dues & Membership Calendar: 

1. From August 1^st to September 30^th, any prior year member can purchase their membership for the upcoming KdV parade.  Any memberships not paid by September 30^th will be offered to new “driplet” members.  There are no exceptions to the September 30^th deadline.  You will know well in advance and be reminded several times before the deadline. 

2. From October 1^st to October 15^th, any paid member can nominate one driplet.  A name and contact information must be provided at the time of nomination.  If a prior year member does not pay their dues by the September 30^th deadline, they can nominate themselves to be placed on the waiting list.
    
3. On October 16^th or thereabouts, the Drips officers put all the names of the nominees into a hat and draw them out at random. 
   1. Driplet membership is given to the first names that are drawn, up to the number of open memberships. 
   2. A waiting list for temps is created based on the order of the remaining names that are drawn.
       
4. Between October 16^th and 1 week before parade day, the marching spot of any member that can’t march is offered to the temps in the order of the waiting list. Reimbursement of dues to be arranged between the member and the temp by themselves. Members can still place people’s names on the waiting list for temp spots, and these names will be added to the bottom of the list in the order they are received.
    
5. In the last week before parade day, Drips officers are not responsible for finding replacements. If you drop out during this period, you relinquish your membership dues. We will provide you with a list of remaining temps if there are any - or if not, you can try to find your own replacement.
    
6. At the Drips wrap up-meeting, the officers discuss whether the Driplets for this season have lived up to our (minimal) expectations. Those who did are offered full membership.
   
    

A few points about this process need to be noted: 

• This is not a popularity contest. There is no need to please the officers or anyone else (though offers will not be refused). Greasing the skids, playing the fool, or somehow else ingratiating yourself to become a full member is not necessary. People will not be turned down because they are not friends with the officers or anything like that. You just need to show up to some meetings and functions, work with us on the float, and not be an asshole or disrespectful. This is not a test of how much we like you. It’s to ensure that we have no coasters or troublemakers. The Drips work very hard on getting this show on the road and it is a collective effort.  Besides, the more you participate, the more you get out of it: By working on the float or coming to the meetings, you will get to know the other members, and by parade day, you’re not only proud of your efforts, you’re also marching through the Quarter with 65 friends rather than a few friends and a bunch of strangers.
   
• The two year rule (see definition of member above) is NOT retroactive and begins with the 2009 parade.
   
• There are seven exceptions to the two-year rule. They are the seven founding members of the Drips who, after 16 years, still maintain active membership status: Jim Aiken, Tonia Aiken, Eileen Duffy McKeown, Ellen Hall McPhate, Norman McSwain, Julie Bounds and Sandra Pelas.
   
• The waiting lists do not persist beyond the current year. If you are nominated for membership one year but only march as a temp, you need to be nominated again the following year if you still want to become a member.
   
• Both the Drips officers and those Drips serving as Krewe du Vieux officers contribute an amazing amount of time and energy. In the weeks leading up to the parade, it is almost a full-time job. People who donate that much of their time should be able to bring in their family or significant other into the krewe. Therefore, each officer may nominate one nominee per year to become a Driplet without their name being drawn at random. Naturally, this depends on available space - if there's no memberships opening up, then this privilege can not be used that year. This privilege can only be used for immediate family members and significant others of the officers (not friends). This privilege also extends to past officers who are still active members in the Drips. This privilege does not count against regular nominations, i.e. an officer may still nominate a person for membership through the general process in the same year the privilege is used. If there are more officers who want to use this privilege in a given year than there are open memberships, the more senior officers get priority. Seniority for this purpose is defined as longest active membership in consecutive years.
   
• One concern that was raised was whether we are holding Driplets to a higher standard than regular members, since there is no requirement for members to show up at events to maintain membership. To that end, we reviewed our participation this year and counted that of 65 members, 52 were actively engaged, and seven of us live out of state – three of which still made their contribution (thanks again for the Gumbo), so they are ingratiated. This means that we had 85% of our membership actively participating. ‘Nuff said. We don’t need no standards for our Drips – THEY ROCK!!
   
• Every rule we put in here (or any Drips doc) should always be applied in the spirit of the Drips, rather than strictly according to the written text. In other words, if a situation comes up that does not fit into the rules or creates a really strange situation that is against the spirit of why we created this document in the first place (to have fun, to be fair, to keep peace), then the officers can always vote to ignore/amend/stretch the rules as necessary. 

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