7th Annual POC Crawfish Fest & Cookoff
What an AMAZING day it turned out to be for the 7th Annual POC Crawfish Fest & Cookoff!! The weather was beautiful, a little windy, but it felt so good! With the much larger, beautiful new beach we have, we were able to include the horseshoe contest and Crawfish eating contest in the sand! Many were able to take their beach chairs & canopies to the sand and enjoy the festivities waterside.
This year’s entertainment lineup started with an 8-piece Cajun zydeco band, who traveled all the way from Wichita, Kansas, to join us here in POC. They put on an energetic and invigorating zydecajun show, with a tinge of country that truly made you want to dance. Thank you to Empire Lodge for providing their lodging, where the Mudbugs gave a private performance the night before the festival. Our headliner this year was Bri Bagwell, a fixture on the Texas Country scene. Bri took time to enjoy the Crawfish festivities before she put on an awesome show, along with her pup on stage! Thank you to our own Scott Brown for arranging and making our music and sound production show so fabulous!
Our Cooking competitors increased this year from 32 teams to 40. The competition was fierce and fun! Our winner of the Best Overall Boiled Crawfish was team Heads or Tails, Team La Famille De Ecrevisse took Second Place, and Third place went to Seaux Cajun. For Best Side Dish, the winner was La Famille De Ecrevisse, for the Cheesy Crawfish Etouffee Balls. Second place Side Dish was team Heads or Tails and 3rd place went to Crawfish Lives Matter. There were a variety of side dishes submitted and believe me, this is the category you want to be a judge in!! Another contest that is original and creative is the Bloody Mary contest. There were some Bloody Mary’s entered that could have been an entire meal! Bloody Mary’s are judged on presentation and taste. This year’s winner (AGAIN!) goes to La Famille De Ecrevisse, and this is their 4th time for this team winning this category. Although, there are judge’s for Crawfish, festival goers also have a choice to pick their favorite. The People’s Choice award this year went to Empire Lodge of POC. Best Decorated Booth was won by the Spicy Shack. Along with the cooking contests, we also had a Crawfish Eating Contest, sponsored by POC Rod & Gun. Winners were 1st Place, Taylor Shank, 2nd Place Willie Kandis, and 3rd Place Jade Alford. Another favorite was the Horseshoe Tournament, with Dwayne and Terri Twoomey taking the win. Please go to and like our POC Chamber of Commerce Facebook pages to see all the pics from this awesome day!!!!
An enhearten thank you to all our Judges, Volunteers and Sponsors. As this is the Chamber’s major fundraiser for the year, we are dependent on all of you. Without your help and support, this event would not be possible. It takes many months of dedicated work to make sure it runs smoothly. Again, thank you so much.
Make sure to mark your calendar for next year, April 25th. Always the last Saturday in April! Until then, Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!
-Darla Parker
Best Boiled Crawfish – Heads or Tails
Best Side Dish & Best Bloody Mary – La Famille De Ecrevisse
People’s Choice Award – Empire Lodge of POC
Best Decorated Booth – Spicy Shack
