By Kathy L. Collins
The Rotary Club of FishHawk Riverview will hold its 3rd Annual Crawfish Festival at FishHawk Ranch in Park Square located at 16132 Churchview Dr. in Lithia on Saturday, May 18 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tickets are $15 and must be purchased by May 10 (for crawfish). Free hotdogs will be available for children with the donation of a non-perishable food item. Other foods such as hamburgers, red beans and rice and gumbo will be available for purchase and do not require an advance ticket.
If you have never had the distinct pleasure of attending an authentic Louisiana crawfish boil, you do not know what you are missing. Crawfish, or ‘Mudbugs’ as they are called in Louisiana, taste like a cross between shrimp and lobster. Right now, we are in the midst of crawfish season (March to June).
A crawfish boil is an event. If you attend the 3rd Annual Crawfish Festival, you will feel like you have been transported straight to southern Louisiana. Rotarian, Mike Broussard is a native of Louisiana. His family will be delivering 2,000 pounds of crawfish, plus the unique blend of spices, straight from Louisiana for the event.
Broussard has plenty of experience in creating a crawfish boil. Broussard previously owned restaurants and has cooked thousands of pounds of crawfish on a weekly basis. The meal will be complete with potatoes and corn.
Rotarian, Elijah Heath is the Chairperson of the event. Heath said, “Every year the festival has gotten a little bigger and better. It’s not often that you get to taste some real Louisiana crawfish. We have people who come from as far as Atlanta and Miami to attend.”
But this event is not just about the food, drink and entertainment, of which there will be plenty. It is also a fundraiser for the Rotary Club. Heath added, “All money raised goes to local scholarships and non-profits. We give scholarships to high school students at Newsome, Riverview and Spoto High Schools. We also give dictionaries to local fourth grade students. We also support non-profits such as A Kids Place, ECHO, the Y, Brandon Outreach Clinic and many more.”
The Rotary Club of FishHawk Riverview meets every Monday at noon at the Beef O’Brady’s located at 4330 Bell Shoals Rd. in Valrico.
For more information on the club and to buy tickets, please visit www.fishhawkriverviewrotary.org.
