Andrew Alvarez of Seguin and Anna Montez of Leander dig into a plate of spicy boiled crawfish at the Swamp Thing Festival. And of course, it’s not Cajun food without a Hurricane to wash it all down. (Photo by Jennifer Biundo)
by JEN BIUNDO
“You gotta suck the head out of each and every one of those crawfish, or you will be disqualified,” the emcee boomed at 20 contestants ready to battle it out in a contest of crawfish peeling, eating – and head-sucking – might.
No doubt about it, it wasn’t your average day at the wiener dog races in Buda City Park.
Put on by the Austin-based Roadway Productions, the 17th annual Louisiana Swamp Thing and Crawfish Festival drew a crowd of thousands down to Buda last Saturday for Cajun food, music and good times. Organizers boiled up 7,000 pounds of crawfish, included in the price of the $20 ticket.
Cajun and Zydeco acts like George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Doug Kershaw, Papa Grows Funk and Dr. Zog kept the crowd grooving through the night.
The long-running festival moved to Buda from Austin this year.
