Supporting Local Charities: The Crawfish Festival is a single fund raising event for the purpose of supporting local Kansas City children's charities. In 2008 the proceeds went to Children’s Mercy Cancer Center Auxiliary. In 2009 and 2010 the proceeds went to Head Start of Shawnee Mission. In 2011 the proceeds went to Head Start of Shawnee Mission and Kansas City Young Audiences. In 2012 the proceeds went to Gillis and Kansas City Young Audiences. In 2013 the proceeds went to Gillis. In 2014 the proceeds went to Head Start of Shawnee Mission. In 2015 we raised over $40,000 for reStart. In 2016 we beat that and raised over $50,000. In 2017 we raised over $35,000 for reStart. That's $125,000 for reStart over three years! In 2018 we raised $28,000 for Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG). In 2019 we raised $40,000 for Growing Futures Early Education Center. And in 2020 all the proceeds will go to Sunflower House. Become a sponsor.
What looks, tastes, and smells like seafood, but doesn't come from the sea? It's crawfish, a freshwater shellfish that is considered a Louisiana delicacy.
Nothing else symbolizes the Cajun (a person of French Canadian descent born or living along the bayous, marshes, and prairies of southern Louisiana) culture of Louisiana like crawfish. Crawfish have become synonymous with the hardy French pioneers who settled in the area after being forced by British troops to leave their homes in Nova Scotia.
Crawfish resemble tiny lobsters. They are also known in the south as mudbugs because they live in the mud of freshwater bayous. They are more tender than lobsters and have a unique flavor. Today crawfish are raised commercially and are an important Louisiana industry. Most of the crawfish consumed in the United States are from Louisiana, although people from other states consider them a delicacy, too. Locals still hold the traditional crawfish boils, where friends and family gather to feast on pounds of crawfish. In the spring, families will go out fishing on the bayous or crawfish farms in an age-old tradition that thrives to this day.
The local Indians are credited with harvesting and consuming crawfish before the Cajuns arrived. They would bait reeds with venison, stick them in the water, then pick up the reeds with the crawfish attached to the bait. By using this method, the Indians would catch bushels of crawfish for their consumption. By the 1930s, nets were substituted, and by the 1950s, the crawfish trap was used.
On July 14, 1983, Louisiana’s governor approved a law designating the crawfish as the state crustacean. Louisiana thus became the first state to adopt an official crustacean. That's how serious Louisiana is about their crawfish!
