Crawfest, the beloved annual Tulane tradition that involves music, art and thousands of pounds of crawfish, was held on Saturday, April 17.
The festival was adjusted to adhere to COVID-19 protocols with live and pre-recorded music performances that were streamed via the Crawfest website and social media. Crawfish, vegetables and drinks were distributed in the Tulane Dining Pavilion on the Berger Family Lawn with limited capacity. The festival was held from 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Although the festival was not held in its usual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tulane community still came out – even in not-so-great weather – to munch on fresh crawfish, listen to local musicians and keep the Tulane tradition of Crawfest alive. (All photos by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Johnny Randazzo, owner of Johnny’s Seafood, empties a sack of live crawfish into one of several boiling pots along Drill Road. Randazzo and his crew prepared 5,000 pounds of crawfish for this year’s scaled-down event. Annually, Crawfest is the company’s largest boil of the year.
Arriving early, Tulane juniors Mark Xiao (left) and Max Chang (right) sit down for their first plate of crawfish. Chang said, “It’s definitely different from the past couple of years, but it’s nice that we’re continuing the tradition. Honestly, with the resources that they’ve allocated this year, I think it’s pretty nice. We’ve all been looking forward to it.” Xiao added, “It’s a tough situation, but I think it’s nice. The crawfish taste good. Doing what we can, right?”
Members of the Tulane community wait in the rain outside the Tulane Dining Pavilion on the Berger Family Lawn. For COVID-19 safety, only 200 diners were allowed inside at any given time.
Students help themselves to unlimited ‘mudbugs,’ corn and potatoes. A veggie option was also available offering celery, onions, mushrooms, carrots and Brussels sprouts.
Richard Rourke and the Voodoo Collective perform live from the Joy Theatre during the indoor festival.
Tulane student Czars Trinidad folds a commemorative Crawfest 2021 T-shirt in the merchandise tent. Trinidad and Ashley Chen (not pictured), both seniors in the digital design program, created and designed this year’s festival logo.
First-year student Sophie Jacobs balances generous servings of crawfish and vegetables.
