Crawfish Fest brings New Orleans to the Garden State

AUGUSTA — Michael Arnone, a Baton Rouge native and his Crawfish Krewe are preparing to bring a piece of New Orleans to New Jersey with the Michael Arnone's 26th Annual Crawfish Fest.

This three day Louisiana and New Orleans Style Music, Food and Camping Festival will be at the Sussex County Fairgrounds, sitting on 130 acres in Augusta on May 29 to 31, featuring 24 bands on four stages playing Cajun, Zydeco, Funk, Delta Blues, New Orleans R&B, Brass and Gospel.

Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer Dr. John & The Nite Trippers, will close out the Crawfish Fest on Sunday, May 31. The doctor brings with him more than 25 albums and five Grammy awards. Crawfish Fest's Saturday night headliner is Anders Osborne. Anders has become one of Louisiana's favorite songwriters and producers.

George Porter Jr. will be playing Crawfish Fest on Sunday, May 31 with his Runnin' Pardners. George is the funky bass backbone of the Meters, a seminal funk band that changed the scope of music.

Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest is known for a variety of Louisiana cuisine. All the dishes are priced at $10 or less. Michael's Krewe will be serving their own pork sausage and chicken jambalaya, boiled crawfish, (oyster, shrimp, catfish and hot roast beef Po-Boys), crawfish bread, crawfish etouffee and red beans and rice (available with smoked pork sausage and without).

New Orleans native and former owner of Hoboken's Oddfellows Rest, Liz Stirling will serve char-grilled oysters, grilled alligator sausage and fried green tomatoes. For those with a less adventurous palate John Pascale will be serving grilled portabella mushroom on a wheat bun, southern fried chicken, burgers, hot dogs and fries.

Breakfast from the Buckner Family from Louisiana will be available for sale to the campers from 6-10 AM on Sat. and Sun. and includes your choice of delicious beignets, scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, and grits. The Buckners will also be serving desserts all day long.

Newton's Chef Andre' de Waal from Andre's Restaurant will also prepare pulled pork on a roll, shrimp and grits, bbq'd shrimp and crab remoulade. Dave and Lis Rosenstrauch will be back with their kids to serve ice cream and New Orleans Style sno-balls. Liberty Concessions will be on site offering a catfish taco, chicken caesar wrap, deep fried veggies and their famous fruit smoothies.

Craft Booths will include African Art, Dancin' Hands Jewelry and a French market with beads, masks and much more. The Crawfish Fest Food and Trade Expo, a showcase of Louisiana products and services returns for its third year featuring a demo of Michael's Jambalaya Mix and others.

Beverages available will include Bud Light, Jager Bomb's, Jager Barell's, American Harvest Organic Vodka Hard Lemonade and Bloody Mary's, DonQ Rum strawberry Daiquiris and Hurricanes and Twisted Tea, Casamigos Tequila Margarita's, Jack Daniel's and coke. A new signature drink, The Crawfish Trap will feature DonQ Coconut Rum, Pomegranate juice, coconut water and a gummy crawfish. Bottled water and soda. All beverages will be sold by the Frankford Township Volunteer Fire Dept.

For more information or to purchase single Saturday/Sunday, three day camping tickets and King Crawfish Krewe VIP tickets visit www.crawfishfest.com.