Rain or shine, we’ll have a good time in Louisiana! The weather didn’t stop us from enjoying the Cajun Livin N Cookin South Louisiana Crawfish Boil, Craft and Car Show at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales! This huge annual festival benefited our charity of the year, Dreams Come True of Louisiana!
If you want to do a little of everything, this is the festival to attend!
There was a ton of stuff for the kids to do. Kids could enjoy the petting zoo, inflatables, scavenger hunt, fishing rodeo—almost too much to list! The Sportsman League monitored the fishing rodeo, which was held in the ponds behind Lamar Dixon. As for the petting zoo, they had sheep, chickens and there were also two dogs “running” the pen with the animals!
If you found yourself in the mood to spend a little money for some great unique items, they had over 150 craft booths to browse. There were people selling all kinds of things, like children’s clothes, bows, woodwork, home décor, artwork, homemade PVC chairs and jewelry. I saw the cutest bow that I just had to have for my daughter!
Are you competitive? Can you cook? There were a LOT of competitions here including a crawfish boiling contest, jambalaya cook-off, mini pot cook-off (where they cook a small amount of jambalaya over a wood fire, usually 1 quart) and cracklin’ cook-off. Check out the 1st place winners for the contest:
- Cracklin’ Cook-Off: Snook Trabeau
- Jambalaya Cook-Off: Tyler Burke
- Mini Pot Cook-Off: Selena Hymel
- Crawfish Boiling Contest: Paul Giangrosso
Can’t cook? Don’t worry—they also had a crawfish eating contest. Now that’s my kind of competition! Yum—good ol’ spicy Louisiana crawfish! Caleb Trabeau won the crawfish eating contest this year!
Speaking of food, not only did they have crawfish, cracklins and jambalaya, but they had sausage po’boys, boudin eggrolls, shrimp stew, etoufee and even desserts! Most of the Pelican State Credit Union team ate the boudin eggrolls from Tureau’s Grocery in St. Amant, and they got rave reviews! “Perfectly seasoned” and “extra crispy” were some of the things I heard about them.
The festival also had seven different live bands with bleachers to relax and listen or a dance floor to get up and boogie to the music.
Pelican selected Dreams Come True as our charity of the year, so when I heard this event was being held in our branch area I reached out to see how we could lend a helping hand. Pelican Beak Squad members volunteered on the day of the event to sell t-shirts and tickets for food and drinks along with collection entry fees at the gate.
We had a blast! This was my first year attending, but I can’t wait to go back next year and bring my kids. You can’t beat a great family-friendly event for charity that costs just $5 per person!
I’m a Prairieville resident passionate about my community and the mother of 2 beautiful, amazing, loving kids. I’m also an avid LSU fan. GEAUX TIGERS!
