LACOMBE, LA – Organizers Kenny Kehoe and Don Bordelon announce they are bringing the Crabfest Lacombe festival back to its roots by focusing on Louisiana music, gourmet crab and seafood dishes, local arts and culture and providing a welcoming place for the community and local nonprofits.
Crabfest Lacombe 2015 is scheduled for June 26-28, 2015, and will be held in its traditional location in John Davis Park in Lacombe. This is the 39th year that a crab festival has been held under the giant oak trees.
Festival entertainers will include Louisiana musicians Tab Benoit, SuperCharger, Waylon Thibodeaux, Benny Turner, Cyril Neville, Witness, Christian Serpas, Benny Grunch & the Bunch, Chubby Carrier and the Shotgun Jazz Band.
A Dixieland Brass Band will open the festival on Saturday by marching from U.S. Highway 190 and N. 12th Street into the park.
Performer Benny Grunch, artist Dianne Parks, Crabfest Lacombe 2015 Queen Emma Villemarette and her mother, Shannon, cultural artist Margo Rosas, Deanna Bernard, C.E.S.P., with New Orleans Music Events, Dorothy Calderon, who organized the crab festival for 28 years, and Jake Groby, District #7 Parish Council Member all joined Kehoe and Bordelon for the announcement at John Davis Park on Tuesday. Bordelon boiled a big pot of crabs to celebrate the announcement.
A collector’s edition Crabfest Lacombe 2015 poster will be available for purchase in limited quantities. The poster is from an original work of art created by Mandeville artist Dianne Parks. Parks’ artwork captures south Louisiana streets, food, swamps and bayous. Parks states, “Throughout the painting process, in addition to accurately rendering the scene, my mind is filled with the sounds, smells and ‘vibrations’ of the scene in my painting. I attempt to convey these emotions through my painting. My hope is that as you look at the painting through the years, you still ‘feel’ the scene before you!”
Emma Villemarette, the Queen of Crabfest Lacombe 2015, is a Lacombe native and the daughter of Jeffrey and Shannon Villemarette. An honor roll sophomore at Lakeshore High School, Villemarette is no stranger to royalty. She was a freshmen maid in Lakeshore’s homecoming court and is a founding member of Keep Lacombe Beautiful.
Margo Rosas is one of the festival’s cultural and indigenous craft vendors. She has been designing and making hand-crafted art using natural materials including glass beads, bones, shells, and quills since 1982.
Crabfest Lacombe, LLC, owner Kehoe has a long history of producing trade shows. He produced the first tradeshow open to the public in the New Orleans Mercedes Benz Superdome in 1975. Co-owner Bordelon is well known on the Northshore because of his seafood cooking. With his extensive experience in the seafood industry and event food production, he will be working with the professional chef and catering vendors to ensure attendees have a wide selection of crab and seafood dishes.
Both promoters say their formula for Crabfest Lacombe 2015 is a simple one: A blockbuster music lineup with memorable food and a few surprises along the way.”
Festival hours and performers are:
Friday, June 26 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Waylon Thibodeaux
Saturday, June 27 12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
12:30 p.m. Brass Band Second Line from U.S. Highway
190 and 12th into the park
1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Brass Band
2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Shotgun Jazz Band
4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Witness
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Benny Turner and Real Blues
8:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Tab Benoit
Sunday, June 28 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Benny Grunch & the Bunch
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Christian Serpas & Ghost Town
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Cyril Neville & Swampfunk
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. SuperCharger
Admission is $5 on Friday and $10 on Saturday and Sunday.
Children under twelve years old, when accompanied by their parents or guardians, are admitted free.
