Crawfish Festival Seeks Sponsors, Exhibitors, Volunteers

The Rotary Club of FishHawk/Riverview is busy making plans for its second scheduled for Saturday, May 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Park Square.

Last year's festival was wildly successful, with 1,400 hungry residents converging on Park Square for a crawfish meal with all the fixings.

According to club member Christine Ans, there are plenty of opportunities for businesses to get involved in this year's festival and promote and market their businesses while giving to a good cause. All proceeds from the festival go to local charities.

, the star of this year's festival will be the freshly harvested  crawfish.

Louisiana native and club member Michael Broussard, who once ran a Cajun catering business, is experienced at procuring and preparing fresh crawfish for crawfish boils.

"It's hard to find fresh crawfish around here, so we're getting our crawfish from a farm in Louisiana," he said. "We'll ice it down and drive it straight to the festival Friday night."

On Saturday, the crawfish will be boiled with Cajun seasonings and served with the traditional potatoes and corn to hundreds of crawfish lovers attending the festival at Park Square in FishHawk Ranch.

Last year's Crawfish Festival was a sold-out event. This year, the Rotary Club is selling only advance tickets for $15 per meal. Tickets must be purchased by May 5. The club is hoping for a crowd of 4,000 crawfish connoisseurs this year.

The event also will feature free hot dogs for the kids with a donation of a nonperishable food item.

A Cajun band will entertain during the festival.

There are five sponsorship levels available: a Title sponsor of $2,500, a Crawdaddy sponsor of $1,000, a Gumbo sponsor of $500, an Ettouffee sponsor of $250 and a PoBoy individual sponsor of $100.

Sponsors receive meals tickets, T-shirts listing their sponsorship, a 10- by 10-foot booth space, signage and banners at the event and recognition during the event and, depending on the sponsorship level, their logo listed on the event website and in paid advertisement.

In addition, businesses have an opportunity to sign up as vendors at the event. A 10- by 10-foot space is $100. Those interested should contact Ans at 813-368-2699 by May 1. The Rotary Club hopes to have 40 to 50 business vendors on site.

Ans added there are opportunities for local high schools and service organizations to raise funds by selling Crawfish Festival tickets. Anyone interested can contact Ans at the number above.

For more information, visit the club's website at fishhawkrotary.com.