AUGUSTA, NJ (01/21/2015)(readMedia)-- Michael Arnone and his Crawfish Krewe are getting ready to celebrate Mardi Gras and prepare for our own piece of Mardi Gras flavored heaven, Michael Arnone's 26th Annual Crawfish Fest. This 3 day Louisiana and New Orleans Style Music, Food and Camping Festival will be at the Sussex County Fairgrounds, sitting on 130 acres in Augusta, New Jersey on May 29-31, 2015, featuring 24 bands on 4 stages playing Cajun, Zydeco, Funk, Delta Blues, New Orleans R&B, Brass and Gospel.

.For lovers of great food, music and fun, good times with family and friends, colorful beads and funky beats, crawfish and jambalaya, this festival marks a major yearly celebration for fans in the Northeast and beyond. If you are looking to sample some of those tastes right now, you can order from Arnone's favorite spots for King Cakes and Mardi Gras beads at Haydel's Bakery and Gambino's Bakery. Michael Arnone produces a dry Jambalaya Mix available on the Crawfish Fest Online Store. Just add browned meat and stir in boiling water to enjoy the same fantastic taste that the Crawfish Krewe creates from scratch at the Crawfish Fest.

For an early peek at this year's music lineup, you can see the Sunday night headliner himself, Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer Dr. John, at The Town Hall in New York, NY on Friday, February 27th. The good doctor brings with him over twenty five albums and five Grammy awards. Playing professionally since the 1950's, Dr. John is one of the biggest acts to ever come out of New Orleans. Crawfish Fest's Saturday night headliner Anders Osborne, will be at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY also on February 27th. Anders has become one of Louisiana's best song writers and producers and will be playing the Capitol with the North Mississippi Allstars.

A beloved treasure of the Crescent City, George Porter Jr. will be playing Crawfish Fest on Sunday, May 31st with his Runnin' Pardners. George is the funky bass backbone of the Meters, a seminal funk band that changed the scope of music. You can see George with the New Orleans super group Tryptophunk at the Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY on Friday, January 30th. Crawfish Fest newcomers, Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds will be at the Capitol Theater on Friday, February 13th. Sister Sparrow and Co. are quickly rising on today's festival scene, playing a super tight variety of funky and soulful R&B. Brooklyn Bowl will host the Stooges Brass Band on February 12/13 and Kermit Ruffins & the Barbeque Swingers on February 17th. Mexicali Live will present Brother Joscephus on February 14th in Teaneck, NJ.

Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest has always been known for a fantastic variety of Louisiana cuisine. All the dishes are priced at $10 or less and bring to New Jersey the great food dishes that are hard to find elsewhere in the Northeast. Michael's Krewe will be serving their own pork sausage and chicken Jambalaya, Boiled Crawfish, oyster, shrimp or catfish Po-Boys, Crawfish Etouffee and Red Beans and Rice (available with smoked pork sausage and without). New Orleans native and former owner of 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. Michael invited his buddy Chef Andre' de Waal from Andre's Restaurant to 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 grilled 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 3rd year featuring a demo of our Jambalaya Mix and others.

Our beverages available will include Bud Light, Jager Bombs, American Harvest Organic Vodka Hard Lemonade and Bloody Mary's, DonQ Rum strawberry Daiquiris and Hurricanes and Twisted Tea, Casamigos Tequila Margarita's, bottled water and soda mixed and sold by the Frankford Township Volunteer Fire Dept.

ADDITIONAL ARTIST INFORMATION

Blue eyed soul singer/songwriter Marc Broussard will take over the Jager Pavilion stage on Sunday, May 31st. Marc has been touring with Anders Osborne, JJ Grey and Luther Dickinson in the highly acclaimed Southern Soul Assembly and comes to Crawfish Fest behind the strength of his newly released A Life Worth Living. A special treat at this year's festival, northern New Jersey heroes From Good Homes reunite on the main stage on Saturday, May 30th. They have played very sparingly since their 1999 breakup, but From Good Homes enjoyed major success through the 1990's on a national level and were North Jersey staples.

Fans gave such high marks to last year's debut of Raw Oyster Cult, they will be back again this year to headline the Jager Pavilion on Saturday. Kermit Ruffins & the Barbeque Swingers will also be back this year, bringing their unique take on jazz standards and originals that have made them musical ambassadors. Jarekus Singleton will making some serious blues noise...blending modern-day blues and emotionally intense soul with melodic, hot-toned lead guitar on the main Stage.

The Dance Hall stage will once again ring with the sounds of Cajun and Zydeco music courtesy of renowned artists Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band and Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew. Free Cajun dance lessons are provided Saturday and Sunday morning for an hour beginning at 11:00 am.

For the past three years Michael Arnone has had musicians give a series of workshops on the Kid's Stage. Acting on the growing popularity of Zydeco and Cajun music, this year will feature three workshops on accordion, given by Geno Delafose, Rosie Ledet and C.J. Chenier. Katie Henry will also give a workshop on blues piano.

Each year at Crawfish Fest the campers and King Crawfish Krewe ticket holders get some music for just them. The Stooges Brass Band, Lost Bayou Ramblers and New Orleans super group, The New Orleans Suspects are on tap for Friday night. Saturday night has blues breakthrough artist Samantha Fish, the John Papa Gros Band, and The Heard, a band from Chicago so funky they couldn't be left off the lineup.

The traditional Sunday morning Gospel set will be from none other than The Matt Angus Thing with Anthony Morgan's Inspirational Choir of Harlem, one of the most popular acts to hold this slot at previous Crawfish Festivals. The lineup is rounded out by three fantastic bands, Crawfish Fest veterans, Honey Island Swamp Band, roots music's Nikki Hill and making their second Crawfish Fest appearance, the explosive Gas House Gorillas.

A time-honored slogan of Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest is "Good family fun, for families that like to have a good time". For more information or to purchase single Saturday/Sunday, Group tickets, 3 day camping tickets and King Crawfish Krewe VIP, visit crawfishfest.com.

Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest is sponsored by Bud Light, Jagermeister, American Harvest Organic Spirit, WFDU-FM, WNTI-FM, DonQ Rum, Crystal Hot Sauce, Twisted Tea, Service Electric Broadband Cable, Casamigos Tequila, Holiday Inn and 84RV.com

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Posted Wednesday January 21, 2015 at 06:05 am by Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest
Last Updated Thursday January 22, 2015 at 04:03 pm