[StBernard] Recent cold weather drives up prices at Louisiana Crawfish Festival

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Mon Mar 24 09:21:33 EDT 2014


Recent cold weather drives up prices at Louisiana Crawfish Festival

wwltv.com

Posted on March 21, 2014 at 5:55 PM

Updated Friday, Mar 21 at 6:01 PM

Monica Hernandez / Eyewitness News

Email: mhernandez at wwltv.com | Twitter: @mhernandezwwl

ST. BERNARD, La. - Robert Casanova and his granddaughters have a big task on
their hands. They are boiling thousands of pounds of mudbugs this weekend
for the Louisiana Crawfish Festival through their St. Bernard restaurant,
Casanova Seafood.

"We've been running crawfish all day," said Casanova Friday afternoon.

The 39 year old festival is expected to draw more than 100,000 people from
across the region.

"Is there anything more important than crawfish in Louisiana?" asked event
chairman Cisco Gonzales.

But getting crawfish has been difficult this year because of unseasonably
cold weather.

"Crawfish is probably almost double from last year," said Gonzales. "It's
the worst year yet for our pricing."

That's because crawfish can't grow in cold temperatures, meaning many
mudbugs aren't big enough yet to be harvested. Low supply means higher
prices, leading crawfish lovers to buy less.

"The average person makes a certain amount of money each week and that's all
they have to spend," said Casanova.

On a good year festival goers eat around 30,000 pounds of mudbugs, said
Gonzales. This year organizers expect to sell much less.

"We'll probably make 30 to 40 percent less money on the boiled crawfish than
what we usually make because the price is outrageous to me," said Gonzales.

According to Gonzales, it's part of the reason that, for the first time
ever, the festival is charging a $5 gate fee.

80 percent of the festival's proceeds go to charity, said Gonzales.

"We seen it coming down the pipe you know with the crawfish being so high,"
said Gonzales.

Casanova said the price has dropped slightly this week now that the weather
is warming up.

He adds there is still a chance this could be a banner year for mudbugs as
the temperatures rise.

Boiled crawfish will cost you $6 a pound at the crawfish festival on top of
the $5 gate fee. Military personnel get in for free, and admission is
included if you opt to buy a $25 wristband for unlimited rides.

The event runs through Sunday.

Find out more at http://louisianacrawfishfestival.com/





More information about the StBernard mailing list