12th Annual – A Great Success!
Last year it was the challenges of mud; this year it was the wind that posed an obstacle for the participants of the 12th Annual POC Crawfish Fest & Cookoff. Fortunately, the wind didn’t dampen the spirits of the estimated 4,300 attendees who enjoyed the beautiful, breezy day in the park. The event was filled with delicious crawfish and other Cajun dishes, flowing beer, dancing, and various food and craft vendors.
This year, we had a total of 40 cooking teams participate in the competition. The atmosphere was filled with excitement and laughter as the teams battled it out. Team It Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself claimed victory as the Champion Boiled Crawfish, followed by Coastal Oaks Cowboys in 2nd place and Heads or Tails in 3rd place.
The Best Side Dish award was won by Claws Up for their delicious Empanada’s, with Let the Good Times Boil securing 2nd place for their loaded crawfish potato, and team Royal Boilers taking 3rd for their mouth-watering crawfish bisque.
Each year, the Bloody Mary contest challenges participants to showcase their creativity through both the presentation and contents of their Bloody Mary creation. This year, awards were given for the Best Tasting Bloody Mary and Best Bloody Mary Presentation. The top spot for this year’s Best Presentation was claimed by team Let the Good Times Boil, while team Mingus ‘Merica took 1st place for the Best Tasting Bloody Mary. Let the Good Times Boil clinched the title for Best Decorated Booth.
Crawfish Fest
First Place Boiled Crawfish
It Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself
While there are designated judges assigned to evaluate the Crawfish entries, event attendees are also given the chance to choose their preferred entry. The People’s Choice honor for this year was bestowed upon team Heads or Tails. This victorious team also earned a 10% payout, totaling prize money exceeding $3,200.
In addition to the cooking contests, a Crawfish Eating Contest was held, sponsored by POC Rod & Gun. The winners included Colton Anders who secured 1st Place, Jason Randall claiming 2nd Place, and Ryan Lott coming in 3rd.
The Cornhole Tournament, sponsored by Frio Coolers, was a competitive tournament this year, with 22 teams signed up. 1st place was taken by Coon & Monkey (Daniel Garcia & Laney Walther), 2nd place winners were Old Crow (Dillion Michale & Erin), while Team Hancock (Dylan & Tyler Hancock) came in 3rd. Last, but not least, our Horseshoe competition was going strong! Taking 1st place were Doug and Josh, while Bobby and Justin came in second place. Congrats to all contestant winners!
The music at this year’s event was performed by the six-piece band from Corpus Christi, Splendiferous, along with DJ Loco Motion, Mike Overton, Jr. We extend our gratitude to Scott Brown for arranging the music and sound production of the show, making it truly fantastic.
We are delighted to share that this year, we managed to sell an impressive 3000 lbs of Crawfish Plates! A big thank you to the talented team at Crawfish Croux for joining us in POC and preparing the delicious crawfish dishes. Additionally, a special shout out goes to Glen & Sherry Kusak from Farm Pac Kitchens for generously providing us with their refrigerated keg trailers for the beer stations, along with the trailer used for the Main Stage.
A special thank you to all that showed up on Sunday morning to help us clean up the park… it was VERY MUCH appreciated! All it took was a simple post, and the village came together to help. The park was left in an immaculate condition! A Special thank you to Saltgrass Boatworks for the use of their UTV in picking up the trash throughout the festival! An enheartened 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 26th…. Always the last Saturday in April! Please go to and like our POC Chamber of Commerce Facebook and the POC Crawfish Fest and Cook-Off Facebook pages to see all the pics from this awesome day and updates for next year!
Until then, Laissez les bons temps rouler!
MANY THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS AND VOLUNTEERS!
