Kern Studios

Kern Studios is an entertainment production company based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The studio creates large floats for events like Mardi Gras in addition to props and themed environments for theme parks, casinos, and corporate entities.

A family-run company, Kern Studios dates back to 1932, when Blaine Kern, Sr. and his father Roy Kern founded Blaine Kern Artists and began a float-building career. In 1947, Blaine Kern formally founded Kern Studios, building floats for the New Orleans Mardis Gras. Kern traveled to Europe to learn more about float building, since gaining an international reputation while producing floats for Montreal, Canada; Las Vegas, NV; Galveston, TX; and for the Universal Studios Mardi Gras parades.

In 1984, Kern Studios expanded to include Mardi Gras World, a tourist attraction where visitors can see behind-the-scenes of Kern Studios.

Barry Kern is the current president and CEO of Kern Studios and Mardi Gras World. The company employs more than 30 people.

Kern Studios is responsible for building Mardi Gras floats used by a variety of New Orleans Mardi Gras krewes each year. It was creating over 300 floats by the 1970s and over 400 floats by the 2010s. The company consistently creates floats for Krewe of Orpheus, Endymion, Rex parade, Krewe of Muses, Krewe of Bacchus, and Krewe of Tucks in addition to several other krewes. The studio also builds floats for Krewe of Boo, New Orleans’ official Halloween krewe.

Kern Studios has created themed environments for Harrah’s Casinos, including both interior and exterior décor. The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios are two notable clients for Kern Studios, whose work has been displayed at Disney locations in Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong and Universal Studios locations in California, Orlando, and Japan. Kern Studios has also created large-scale artwork for Nickelodeon; Chick-Fil-A; Mars, Incorporated; Coca-Cola, Six Flags; Everland; and the National Football League. In 2010, Kern Studios produced the Saints Superbowl parade and kickoff parade for Super Bowl XLIV.

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