When asked if they mind this year’s early parade date, Krewe of Chewbacchus co-founders Ryan Ballard and Kirah Haubrich burst out laughing.

“We’ve rolled on a different route, on a different day, every year,” Ballard says. “Backwards, the wrong way, on Saint Charles, towards Bacchus. On purpose. We were going up and another parade was going down. We couldn’t figure out who was in the parade and who wasn’t. I think we’re the only krewe to do that in the...