Erica Jones, Maquitta Bullard, and Caelyn Bullard enjoy some mudbugs at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
It was easy to spot Rob Hughes in the crowd at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival benefiting Porter-Leath.
He was the one wearing a crawfish on his head. Other people carried crawfish in buckets.
Actually, Hughes, who is Porter-Leath’s vice-president for development, was wearing a crown with a red crawfish hat pinned in the inside. “It’s the official crown for the ‘King of Crawfish,’” Hughes says.
And who bestowed that title on him? “I just did. In the last five seconds.”
Crown or no crown, Hughes was the happiest “crawfish” at the festival.
The crowd was estimated to be in the 30,000 to 35,000 range, Hughes says. For their estimates, he says, “We usually rely on our food trucks and our food vendors and certainly the [Memphis] police department.”
And, he says, 16,000 pounds of crawfish were sold. “We sold every last pincer down there.”
Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue) Ethan Sao, Jennifer Rogers, Sarah Straub, Perri Chan, Hayden Perez, Aubree Vaccaro at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Tre’ Matthews, Alaina Matthews, Timothy Matthews, and Tyus Matthews at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Austin Prudhomme at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Vendors were on hand with culinary items, including corndogs, for those who didn’t want to stand in line for mudbugs.
Michael Galindez and Elysia Green at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Justin and Kiara Hughes at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The festival, which celebrated its 30th anniversary, moved to a new location this year. Actually, moved over is more like it. The event was usually held between Beale Street and Union Avenue. This year, it was moved between Union Avenue and Jefferson Avenue. “Obviously, a little bit of nervousness any time there’s a new layout. Kind of like moving to a new house.”
But the new location “allowed us to do some new things,” Hughes says, adding: “The new space allowed us to spread out and bring green space.”
People watched the river go by and enjoyed the breeze, Hughes says. And they got to take advantage of Fourth Bluff Park and River Garden.
The festival also raised a lot of money for Porter-Leath, Hughes says. “It should be right at six figures. It’s still a little early. But signs are pointing in that direction.”
The festival wasn’t held in 2020 because of the pandemic. And Hughes believes they skipped a year in the early ‘90s.
So, 2023 marked the official 30th anniversary of the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival. “We definitely celebrated in style. And everybody came out for the party.”
Brian Litaker, Leior Jones, Mack Robinson, P.J., and Wenshawn Green at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Mariah Anderson and Percy Bullard at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Sarah Straub and Hayden Perez at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Anna Owens and Steven Ash at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)We Saw You
It was great to be back at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festial and run into old friends, including Lacey Hudman. Her husband, Richard, snapped the photo.
I’ve covered the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival benefiting Porter-Leath many times over the years. I even bought funny bright red caps adorned with (fake) crawfish pincers and crawfish deely boppers, which I wore in photos that I hope were funny at the time.
But it’s hard for me to believe the last Rajun (one of the hardest words to write on a computer) Cajun Crawfish Festival I covered was three years ago. That was the last one before the most recent festival, which was April 24, 2022.
“We had a drive-through last year,” says Porter-Leath communications director Mary Braddock. “And the year before that was canceled.”
This year’s 29th Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival was at the same location — between Wagner Place and Union Avenue. And it featured the same crawfish vendor. “They drive in thousands of pounds of fresh crawfish straight to us from Louisiana. Fresh Gulf crawfish,” Braddock says, “and they steam and season it on sight.”
Prentice, Phyllis, and Shanicka Merritt at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Neisha Lashay and James Hampton and some crawfish. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Miles Robinson at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
They brought 16,000 pounds this year, Braddock says. “We sold out about 6:30. Thirty minutes before we closed, we were out of crawfish. People were really excited to be down there.”
Once again, I didn’t eat any crawfish at the festival because I didn’t want to smell like crawfish all day. The only place I eat crawfish is at my dining room table, where I can be as messy as I want to be and I can reek of crawfish the rest of the day. Okay, I will eat chef Erling Jensen’s crawfish bisque in public at his restaurant, Erling Jensen: The Restaurant. That is an iconic item on Jensen’s menu. And as an added bonus, someone else did the work of pulling the meat out of the crawfish.
These days, if I attend a crawfish boil, I’ll just eat the potatoes and maybe the corn instead of the crawfish, which, hopefully, the host or hostess will bag up for me to take home.
Now don’t get me wrong — I love the taste of crawfish no matter how much work is involved to get that tiny bite. And the Rajun Cajun festival is one of my favorite events of the year. It’s held in the spring, and people are ready to get outside and party.
Addison Millican and Lila Eudaly at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
About 35,000 people attended this year’s event, Braddock says. According to its news release, the festival included “crawfish bobbing, eating, and racing contests.”
More than 24 gumbo teams competed in the Cash Saver Gumbo Cook-off.
The event included a Kids Area on Riverside Drive, and they also had live music on two stages.
And there were food trucks, including at least one I saw that sold — you guessed it — crawfish.
“Rajun Cajun,” the press release states, “is the largest one-day crawfish festival in the Mid-South.”
And each year “the festival supports free programs and services that Porter-Leath provides for over 40,000 local children and their families to achieve healthy, optimal, and independent lifestyles.”
Preston Brickey, Greg Floyd, Amanda Deering, and Michael Donahue at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Brock Cates and Cyrus Rector at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Where Was Bianca?
A guest experiences “Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds” at the “Return to Studio 54” party at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The “Return to Studio 54” party could have been called “Return to a Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Party.” It was the first “true members opening [party] since the pandemic,” says Jeff Rhodin, director of marketing and communications at Brooks.
It was great to be back at a Brooks party. The event featured performances by High Expectations Aerial Arts and food from Paradox Catering & Consulting.
Everything centered around the Brooks exhibits “Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds” and “Andy Warhol’s Little Red Book.” The party also featured an introduction to Warhol by Brooks chief curator Rosamund Garrett, associate curator of modern and contemporary art Dr. Patricia Daigle, and curatorial fellow Heather Nickels. Daigle was curator of “Little Red Book” and Nickels was curator of “Silver Clouds.”
Bianca Jagger wasn’t there. Nor was Liza Minelli. But some guests dressed in their wildest best to commemorate Studio 54, which was a trendy New York disco back in the ’70s.
Saj Crone and Michael Donahue at “Return to Studio 54” A High Expectations Aerial Arts member floats through the air with the greatest of ease at “Return to Studio 54” (Credit: Michael Donahue)Patrick Hendricks and Kerri Campbell at “Return to Studio 54” (Credit: Michael Donahue)Jeremy Reese, Brooks executive director Mark Resnick,and Jeff Rhodin at “Return to Studio 54” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
We Saw You Cards Are Back
We Saw You cards were all the “rage” at an Elvis 7s tournament on August 9, 2019. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I passed out my first “We Saw You” cards, which tell you where to find my photos on Instagram, on April 24th at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival. It was the first time since before the pandemic that I gave people my calling card at an event.
So, get ready to be inundated at future events with these (non)collectible cards that feature half of my face and other Memphis Flyer info.
It’s Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival time, and in its honor, we turn our focus on the festival’s popular gumbo cooking contest, and, specifically, on how to win it. Three-time champ Parris Edwards with the Bayou Babes spills all her secrets.
“It’s quite a story,” Edwards says about how she got into competitive gumbo-cooking. Edward’s father was one of the contest’s first competitors. Edwards and her sisters would help him prep. He never won or placed.
Years later, “my sister and I decided to cook our own gumbo and compete against Dad. We won first prize,” Edwards says.
Then Edwards decided to join her dad’s team, doing her own cooking. She won again. Later, she and her sisters formed the Bayou Babes and took home first place again last year.
Bayou Babes
So what’s her secret? Turns out, she has several to share.
“My trick is to take every ingredient and make it taste good,” Edwards says. She marinates, batters, and fries chicken before putting it in the pot. She sautes the okra in butter until it’s crispy (and no longer slimy).
Another hint is to consistently stir your roux until it’s caramel color. Edwards says the roux is what separates gumbo from soup and is particularly important. “People burn their roux,” she says. “I’ve have had so many [roux] that taste like hell.”
Edwards also says that too much heat is a major problem. “Don’t make it too hot, spicy,” she says. She likes smoked paprika because it adds flavor without adding heat.
Good rice, none of that minute stuff, is essential. Why would you put in five to six hours making a gumbo and then put it over horrible rice?
Edwards forgoes file and uses one can of diced tomatoes. She thinks gumbo is about doing whatever you want. “People make their own rules for gumbo,” she says.
And the very best way to eat gumbo, Edwards says, “is with a big bowl and a big spoon.”
