In an attempt to create what will surely be the most awesome part of next year's Mardi Gras, a group of Chewbacca enthusiasts have launched a Kickstarter drive to build a Millennium Falcon golf cart for the massive New Orleans party.

The "Ride for the Wookie" is being built by a rag-tag team from the Big Easy to cart actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films, through the Chewbacchus Parade, which happens sometime during the two weeks before Fat Tuesday.

The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus wanted Mayhew – their "Emperor for Life" – and his wife, Angie, to preside over the first Chewbacchus Parade in 2011, but he wasn't able to make it. After meeting the Mayhews at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con earlier this year, the group's members realized they needed to make the couple the perfect ride for 2013, said Ryan Ballard, a conceptual artist who serves as Krewe Chewbacchus' "Space Commander Chewbaccacabra (Overlord)."

"It became abundantly clear once I meet Peter in the flesh that he would require a parade contraption a bit more spacious and leg-roomier than anything we had already built (he is 7'2" tall)," Ballard said in an e-mail to Wired. "It was clear to me right from the beginning that if we were going to build something awesome and new for the wookiee himself it had to be a Millennium Falcon ... on a golf cart frame ... with a double loveseat for the Emperor and his Royal Consort."

The Krewe, in case you're wondering, is open to "Star Wars freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, mega-geeks, gamers, cosplayers, circuit benders, cryptozoologists, UFO conspiracy theorists, mad scientists and all the rest of super nerdom." They're looking to raise $4,200 to build the ride and are offering a lot of cool perks for those who donate, including membership in the group and – for $1,000 – the chance to drive the contraption in the parade dressed as Han Solo.

"The Millennium Falcon Golfcart is more ambitious than anything we have built before, and we've built some crazy contraptions," Ballard said of the project, which will require a bigger budget than previous endeavors.

Learn more about the project in the video below, then head to Kickstarter if you want to help fund the project.

[via Laughing Squid]