That makes it one of the longest-running festivals in Australia and possibly the oldest festival in South Australia.
The Loxton Mardi Gras will be held this weekend and while "Mardi Gras" has become synonymous with the LGBTQI community, organisers of the Loxton festival hold firmly to the religious meaning behind the name.
"Mardi means Tuesday and Gras means grand," said one of the festival's organisers, Peter Magarey.
"It's a family religious festival to eat up big before the austerity of Lent."