Straight from the Bayou Crawfish Festival

Can I give half a star??? This was a classic cluster %!?# you figure it out!!! Obviously no foresite re the attendance, how many FOOD venders, WHAT TYPE of FOOD vendors!!!
Whoever had this as an idea needs serious assistance in putting an event together. The food lines anywhere between 60 min to 90 min, then finding out sold out of 90% of their menu!!! we were second in line to place our order and Miss B comes out to say she has to close, REALLY!!! JUST DISGRACEFUL~ it will be a very hard sale to try to get this event off the ground next time, IF THERE IS A NEXT TIME!!!

I agree with all of the above!!! Waited over one hour in line for crawfish boil only to be told they were out! $ 14/​person was OVERPRICED to say the least for what was offered. This event needs to be re-​thought before it happens again! Sorry O missed the drunk women singers — that may have been entertaining! At least the corn was good! And the catfish — catfish was only a 20 minute wait but ram out early as well

totally a waste of time asian guys were the only full menu vendor

The second I saw the advertisement for this event, and was going to be on my side of town, I rejoiced and told my family and friends to come along. Had it not been for the company I was with, I would have been extremely disappointed. Every experience is what you make it, and we made it fun, although yes they ran out of crawfish, yes the lines were to Louisiana, and yes there were only a few food vendors. There was not a cap on pounds of crawfish you could buy. The last 9lbs of crawfish were sold to one person.
My family arrived a later in the evening and two lines they hopped in ran out of food. They did eat the catfish, which was so good. I had roasted corn which was smothered in butter and I covered with parmesan and Cajun flavoring they had there. Yummy! Later in the evening, one of the vendors had crawfish, which I tried. The taste was not something I would jump up and down for, I’ve had better. My friend and I tried the pineapple yogurt, which was refreshing. I didn’t know the difference when reading the sign of the breakdown of flavors, so I ordered the cheapest one, which was just pineapple frozen yogurt, with out the juice or fresh pineapple.
As far as experience goes, I was just chatting with people in line as we were waiting. Music was going and my friend was dancing with my niece which was so cute. Although the food was a bit of a bust, the crowd that I was around was just there for a good time and that’s what they had. This could have been a really good event, but this is their first one. If they decide to hold this next year, they should really look at the amount one person can purchase as well as other factors.

The biggest ripoff ever!!! How can you have a crawfish festival and not have any crawfish!!! Arrived at 12:30 and the ONLY vendor selling crawfish (aside from the Asian vendor selling pad thai with crawfish which I don’t believe is «straight from the bayou») wasn’t ready to serve! WTH. I thought something was funny when we arrived and people were already leaving. But since I had already purchased my tickets on line ($ 72 for six tickets) I decided to give it a try. Once inside, there were hardly any vendors. Not to mention, the ones that were there didn’t have much to do with Louisiana or the bayou.
There was one vendor there that was ready for food service but they were way OVERPRICED. $ 5 for a lemonade that tasted like it was made with sewer water, not sweet, and barely tasted like lemonade. Their food was sub par.
The music left something to be desired. The band was okay. Nothing like you get in NOLA.
No Bourbon street bartenders. No hurricanes. No beignets.
If there is a 2^nd annual crawfish festival, you couldn’t pay me to go. It was that bad!!!

As fans of the Lafayette, Louisiana area we were excited about this festival. Well, that excitement lasted about a minute upon our entrance into the facility. There were very few food vendors, the lines were horrific and the food didnt look particularly good. The only food spot that had a short line was the one offering burgers and hot dogs — really!
This was a rip off and we should have asked for my money back as did a previous poster (he must have been the one getting a refund when we entered) but my wife wouldn’t hear of it. We decided to leave immediately and went to Lucilles for a Po’ Boy which was about the same price as charged at the festival and a whole lot better. At dinner we talked about returning for the music but since it didn’t sound very Cajun, we just left the area $ 28 dollars poorer, but did get an education in picking festivals.
Will never return if they continue this event.

Very disappointed with the effort to put on a festival at Henderson Pavillion. Is there no one in charge that knows what is going on? Good luck at having a second one. The line was longer to get an entrance refund than the one for those hoping for crawfish.

What a complete waste of time, space, money and so much more! I counted a total of 13 vendors only 4 of which had food. NONE which of had crawfish. There was an Asian place with some pad Thai with added crawfish but that is NOT why you go to a crawfish festival! The flyer advertised the obvious crawfish, as well as catfish, crab, shrimp, BBQ, cool NOLA themed drinks and I seen NONE OF THAT! We seen 2 snow cone trucks. One which had a few crock pots of some home made Cajun style food. (Weird) There was a dole pineapple vendor that was really cool. Fresh pineapples with frozen yogurt. Funnel cakes. And a hotlink/​hotdog/​BBQ stand. We got a hotlink that was decent but the onions and peppers were not at all cooked. The only people only serving a full menu were the Asians. Not a good look Cajun folks! We arrived around 11, we seem one big pot for a crawfish boil, that they said would start around 2pm!!! What the #%*#?! First off 1 big pot is enough for about ¹⁄₁₀₀ of the people there. And where’s the rest!!! I will be emailing and contacting everyone who had anything to do with this event. Never been so let down with a food festival. Get your stuff together. And for the record I’ve been to a Cajun food and music festival in Virginia. It included alligator, and beads, and awesome drum solos, and tons of hot sauce. NOTHING like this one!

WHAT A RIP OFF! So first off, they were charging $ 14 when the website clearly said it would be $ 12 at the door. Maybe 5 food vendors, two of which had crawfish. Over priced average at best food. How do you throw a crawfish festival with one pot cooking for all these people. tsk tsk. I have so many better things to waste my money on. Anyway to get refunded after the fact I’ve left? I have my ticket stubs.
ps– would be zero but they get one star for the vendor with the spray bottle fans… thanks for helping us beat the heat

Horrible, embarrassing, nearly criminal. $ 14 a person to get in, very few food vendors, and the «attraction» consists of a small crawfish pot, low-​power burner, and one guy cooking. As of 1300 hours, no crawfish ready, dozens of people waiting, and the cook did not even know what they were charging or how much one person could buy at a time. Nonetheless, the pot could cook no more than approx 35 lbs every couple of hours. Do the math… There is no way to serve the thousands of people arriving, and this was billed as a «crawfish» festival.
I WILL NOT be attending the 2^nd Annual event, if they hold it again…

Live music = Drunk Woman singing on stage along with some crappy southern compilation cd.
Food = Four vendors, all with lines far too long to bother with.
Crawfish = Massive line, 1 guy cooking in a pot.
Heritage Tent = Didn’t exist.
Bourbon Street Bartenders serving Daquiri’s and Hurricanes = Didn’t exist.
False advertising at it’s worst. There’s no excuse for how bad this event was. The only good thing is that they didn’t argue when we asked for a refund.