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Pensacola Crawfish Festival

4:50 AM, May. 4, 2012

Honey Island Swamp Band is the headline performer on Saturday at this year’s Pensacola Crawfish Festival. / Special to the News Journal

Written by

Julio Diaz

Filed Under

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Honey Island Swamp Band is the headline performer on Saturday at this year’s Pensacola Crawfish Festival. / Special to the News Journal

Entertainment schedule

Today

• 3 p.m.: Practical Factors.
• 6 p.m.: Wes Loper.
• 8:30 p.m.: Dwayne Dopsie.
Saturday

• 10 a.m.: Season Ammons.
• 12:15 p.m.: Wes Baylis and Richochet Creek.
• 2:15 p.m.: Bayou Boys.
• 4:15 p.m.: Announcement of DeLuna Treasure Hunt Winner.
• 4:30 p.m.: Adam Holt.
• 6:30 p.m.: Hadley Castille and the Sharecroppers Band.
• 9 p.m.: Honey Island Swamp Band.
Sunday

• 11 a.m.: Ryan Balthrop and Brooks Hubbert.
• 12:30 p.m.: Hadley Castille and the Sharecroppers Band.
• 3 p.m.: Wayne Toups.

Want to go?

• WHAT: Pensacola Crawfish Festival, presented by Fiesta of Five Flags.
• WHEN: Noon to 11 p.m. today; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
• WHERE: Bartram Park, downtown Pensacola.
• ADMISSION: Daily admission is $5 for adults, with free admission for children ages 12 and younger. A weekend pass is available for $10. Free admisson for all before 3 p.m. Friday. Active-duty military with ID are admitted free on Friday.
• DETAILS: Visit www.fiestaoffiveflags.org.

38th annual Fiesta 10K Run and 5K Run/Walk

Run off that crawfish or work up your appetite with the annual Fiesta 10K Run and 5K run/walk, starting at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. This run through the streets of historic Pensacola will begin near 12th Avenue and Scott Street for the 5K run/walk and at Pensacola State College’s Ninth Avenue campus for the 10K run. The course feature moderate hills through scenic residential and historic neighborhoods, ending at Seville Square in downtown Pensacola, where all runners get free admission to the Pensacola Crawfish Festival. For complete details, visit www.pensacolarunners.com.

They might be the most popular crustaceans on the Gulf Coast. And if that’s not true year-round, it’s definitely true in Pensacola one weekend each year.

We’re talking about the humble crawfish (or crawdad, or crayfish, or mudbug or whatever colloquialism you prefer). The tiny, spiny, freshwater cousin of the lobster is feted each year in downtown Pensacola’s Bartram Park when the Fiesta of Five Flags organization presents the Pensacola Crawfish Festival.

This weekend’s event marks the 28th annual Crawfish Festival, and the star of the show is more than 16,000 pounds of the boiled “bugs,” courtesy of Mike’s Crawfish Boils of Duson, Ala. If you’re not a fan of sucking down the boiled beasties, you can also consume crawfish po boys, crawfish etouffe, crawfish pie and a number of other crawfish dishes.

The mighty mudbugs also feature in some of the weekend activities at the festival. The 7th annual Cat Country 98.7 FM Crawfish Eating Contest features competitions for kids, adults and the uber-competitive “CrawDADDY division,” all competing for prizes from Cat Country 98.7 FM. Entry is free for kids; $5 adults; and $10 for CrawDADDYS.

Or you can challenge your friends in the popular NASCRAW Races in the family area, and see if your crawdad is a speed demon.

And if you don’t like crawfish, that’s OK, there’s still plenty to eat and plenty to do, from festival fare such as hot dogs and hamburgers to the family area packed with kids’ activities and plenty of live music seasoned with Cajun spice, including DeLuna Fest veterans Honey Island Swamp Band.

And if you get too full, there’s even an affiliated 5K and 10K foot race on Saturday to help you burn off the calories.