It was Amanda Alch’s first Mardi Gras in 2010 when she started hearing crowds chant for Muses shoes.

“Across the way, there was this woman who caught the shoe and you can see the glitter and the boa and I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s the coolest thing I have ever seen,’” Amanda Alch, theater arts senior, said.

Amanda Alch has spent hours designing and crafting shoes to use as parade throws during her Muses debut this coming Mardi Gras.

“The reason I think the throws for the shoes are so popular is because it’s got the insole, so you can put things in it. You can do feathers out the back and can do multiple colors,” Amanda Alch said. “You can do any color, any glitter. You can make it your own.”

Amanda Alch isn’t the only Alch on her float. She’ll be joining her mother, Jo Alch, and aunt, Hope Self, on a two-part float that was added to accommodate women who were still on the waitlist. Amanda Alch and Hope Self have become riders thanks to the accommodation. It took them seven years to secure a riding position. The 2017 season will be their first time riding with Jo Alch.

Amanda Alch explained that the demand for a position is fierce enough for Krewe of Muses to expand their reach.

“Surprisingly, right after we had sent in our applications, they closed down the waitlist because they just couldn’t take anymore, that’s how long the waitlist was. This is where Nyx came along. Nyx is a spinoff of Muses. It’s actually all of the women that were on the waitlist. They did their own parade.”

Jo Alch grew up in New Orleans, watching Mardi Gras parades go by with her sister Hope Self.

“We didn’t grow up with a lot of money,” Self said. “I think it felt like you needed money to be in a krewe.”

It would take 20 years for Jo Alch to go back to Mardi Gras after a bad experience watching a man being pushed over in a porta-potty by 10 other men.

“It was horrible. With the door down. It traumatized me. My heart broke for the poor guy,” Jo Alch said.

Jo Alch moved to Texas, where she began raising her family and started her own business, Acapella in Home Care. The Brookhaven College nursing clinical program alum knew she wanted nothing more than to be a Muses rider.

“I mailed in when we got back to Dallas to be on the waitlist,” Jo Alch said. “There were 800 on the waitlist, but the following year they had an auction to ride on a Muses float. I wanted to win that for my birthday.”

For Jo Alch’s 50th birthday, she, her husband Matt Alch, and Amanda Alch logged onto eBay and waited to bid. Jo Alch secured her spot.

Self, who also lives in Texas, knows several other Muses in the area. Together they throw shoe parties, where guests build shoe designs together.

“I like to do Barbie shoes. I have a shoe with the new Barbie stuck inside,” Jo Alch said. “And I decorate them with a dress and put an ‘M’ on the Barbie dress.”

The Alchs take shoes, clean them up, and start turning them into the Muses shoes that will be thrown in the parade.

“I did a black widow spider shoe,” Amanda Alch said. “So the outside is glittered purple. I’ve got two big eyes that I put on the front and on the inside is a black boa and then I’ve got legs that come out the sides.”

More is more for Amanda Alch, who loves to make theatrical shoes with vibrant colors. Jo Alch makes Mardi Gras and New Orleans themed shoes. Hope keeps them flamboyant.

“The higher the heel, the sexier the shoe,” Jo Alch said.