The Syracuse Crawfish Fest returns Saturday to kick off the downtown outdoor festival season for the 17th year.
It takes place 11 am to 7 pm Saturday in Clinton Square. As always, it features Louisiana-inspired foods and live music and serves as a fundraiser for its affiliated local charitable group, Operation Northern Comfort. (See fest details below).
This will be the first Crawfish Fest without founder Norm Andrzejewski, who died last fall at age 82. A month later, Warren Machell, the festival’s coordinator of volunteers and crafters, also died, at age 80.
This year’s event will include a tribute to both men, who were instrumental in running both the festival and Operation Northern Comfort, which provides services to those in need in Central New York and beyond.
“We (Operation Northern Comfort) are still very busy, very active in projects,” said Laurel Flanagan, who took over as festival coordinator in 2021. “It’s a real testament to Norm and his vision that we’re still working hard to fill the needs that are out there.”
Andrzejewski founded the group as Operation Southern Comfort in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area and other parts of the Gulf Coast. Andrzejewski and his family had briefly lived in New Orleans years before, and based on the relationships he made, he recruited a group of volunteers to head South to help rebuild homes.
In the first few years after Katrina, Andrzejewski and his crews made 50 trips and helped rebuild nearly 200 houses — some repaired, some built from scratch.
The Crawfish Fest started in Syracuse’s Hanover Square in 2008, initially as a fundraiser for Operation Southern Comfort. It featured food, music and other entertainment. It’s been held in Clinton Square and the Inner Harbor in Syracuse, with the most recent event held in Clinton Square last May.
In 2012, the nonprofit group changed its name to Operation Northern Comfort and began offering aid to those in need closer to home, including Central New York. Its most recent major projects was sending 67 volunteers to Buffalo to help rebuild a church damaged in a big winter storm there two years ago.
Locally, projects included things like Desks4Kids, which in the last year built and delivered 500 desks to students in the Syracuse city schools and other districts. The group also builds wheelchair ramps and lifts for the disabled. In all, Flanagan said, about 100 volunteers work through the year on various Operation Northern Comfort endeavors. See list of projects.
The Crawfish Festival
Admission is free; food and beverages available for purchase. Most vendors take cash and credit cards.
Food: Of course, crawfish is the featured element on the menu. You can get one- or two-pound boiled crawfish dinners, in addition to shrimp and Louisiana favorites like jambalaya, gumbo and red beans and rice. There are also burgers, hot dogs, clams and other items.
New this year is a sandwich called The Reaper, which combines pulled pork and crawfish mac & cheese on a bun. New food trucks on site include Mamacitas and The Baked Potato Express, joining Carvel, Bold Coast Lobster, Ma & Pa’s Kettle Corn, The Spud Shack and Byblos Street Grill.
Wine, beer, water and soda are also available.
Entertainment: Music is performed on an acoustic stage and the main stage.
Main Stage Schedule
11 am National Anthem/ Opening Ceremony
11:15-11:50 am Unity Street Band
Noon-1:30 pm C’est Bon Cajun Dance Band
1 pm Mascot Dance Competition
1.15pm Tribute to Norm Andrzejewski & Warren Machell
1:30 – 3:00 pm The Barndogs
3:00 – 3:30 pm PGR Dance Team
3:30 – 5:00 pm The Ripcords
5:00 – 5:30 pm Chris Thomas and the Smoke Dancers
5:30-7:00 pm Brass Inc.
Blackberries: There is also a new Family Fun Zone with inflatable games and other activities. There is a merchandise tent and several craft vendors on site. The “after party” will be held at the Press Room Pub with a two-for-one White Claw drink special.
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at [email protected]or follow him at NYup.comHon Twitter or Facebook.
