Life was good for thousands of reasons Saturday afternoon as the crowds spilled into Syracuse’s Clinton Square.
The sun was shining, and the temperature one the AXA/Equitable Tower peeking through the nearer buildings read an oh-so-pleasant 64º F.
Crawfish Festival pulsed with people of all sizes and ages and colors, this first of a series of downtown fests that fill this concrete rectangle that’s taken up by the dancing waters of a fountain on warm-weather weekdays, a Farmers Market on Tuesdays and an outdoor ice rink from Thanksgiving to just shy of St. Patrick’s Day.
There was food, sold by vendors to pay homage to the New Orleans, or sold to fill the bellies of local Central New Yorkers. The lines were long for all stands except the hot dog place while we were there, but my dear wife Karen and I were not in a barking mood. Neither did we feel like standing a hundred deep for shrimp or the bright red title muddy bottom-feeder or the jambalaya and red beans.
We chose the meatballs in a heel by local favorite Columbus Bakery, were we love to get their fresh bread to go with the pasta and sauce Karen whips up at home. Three meatballs liberally doused with a tasty red sauce were served on thick, crusty hunk of fresh break. Bravo.
On any gallery, clock on a photo for a description. Click and hold on the bottom photo for an enlarged slide show.
There was music, and rock band Soul Risin’ was pumping it out proudly while we were walking and eating. A nice portion of the crowd was taking the time to pay attention, too, and not just the little kids taking delight in romping around in front of the stage, either. Serious music lovers appreciated Soul Risin’s 90-minute set, including originals.
Drinks available.
Or course, there were adult beverages available to make the warm day even more pleasant if one so chose to go that route.
Beanbag toss.
There was that beanbag toss game with the name I don’t dig available to be played if that’s your thing.
And all of it raised money for the charitable Central New York operation, Operation Northern Comfort.
Here’s the link to my story about last year’s Crawfish Festival.
Have you ever eaten crawfish, the bite-and-suck red shellfish, and if so, do you like it? What festival are you looking forward to where you live? Which photo is your favorite, and why?
Mark Bialczak 
I do not dig the name of that beanbag game either, It sounds perverted! And no, I don’t eat shellfish of any kind, ever. But the festival still looks like it was fun! 😀
LikeLike
Now you have nailed my aversion to the title of the game, dear Rachel.
LikeLike
I love reading about the adventures that you and Karen have. The food, the sights, the music – it’s all magic. Even more special when you share it with somebody you love. Superb!
LikeLike
Thanks, Michele.It’s fun sharing it with my wife and then here with my friends!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember last year’s conversation about crawfish. It is a major deal down here in Texas. I like that beanbag toss game…tis cornhole here, however, and I’m quite a competitor. 🙂
LikeLike
It’s called that up here, too, and I hate the name, Aud.
LikeLike
Dumb name…agreed.
LikeLike
I have eaten all kinds of sea food, including crawfish and something like the shrimp only smaller. Not sure if they were delicious since I douse them in butter sauce, sometimes garlic sauce like in a scampi sauce. Okay, hope you know I am getting a little excited about festivals, Mark! You are so lucky to have already been to one! Felicia and I hit a great flea market, where she found a Fendi from Italy bag, while I found a nice purse which will go across my chest, vintage and pretty brown and white leather with a brass clasp. We had terrible coffee but ate delicious tacos! Smiles!
LikeLike
That’s put me in a festive mood, Mark. This weekend I had the choice of travelling to North Wales for the Victoriana Festival or going even further to a Georgian Festival in Cumbria. The thought of being stuck in slow-to-non-moving traffic put me off. So I chose a rather wet Saturday (the forecasters got it wrong) to spend an unfestive day at a wetlands wild bird sanctuary only 17 miles away.
We had a local food festival in the local park, which is only 150 yards from my house, for the first time last summer. I was underwhelmed to say the least. It’s good to encourage local events and I hope they put one on again this year. Still there’s the Southport Jazz Festival coming up at the end of the month to look forward to.
oh, and I’ll pass on the crawfish, thanks all the same. 🙂
LikeLike
Get jazzed up for Southport, Roy! That sounds like a good one, and soon.
Maybe they’ll learn from initial mistakes and make a second go-round of the local food fest at the very convenient park a winner this summer, Roy. That would be quite lovely.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s midnight, but after looking at those photographs, I AM HUNGRY. Two words came to mind while I ogled the meatball sandwiches and shellfish… Food. Porn. *nom nom nom*
LikeLike
It has that feel, Jenny. Any shell fish you wish. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the sound of Clinton Square – farmers’ markets and skating etc. Looks like you had a fabulous day out. And good to balance this sun-shining, happy people post with all the media coverage of rioting and racial tension in Baltimore. Keep smiling over there.
LikeLike
It was a good weekend here in Syracuse, Charlotte. I hope you had a good one over there, too, my friend.
LikeLike
Festivals – great fun. A sure sign of spring.
LikeLike
Are you OK that far north of Baltimore re last week, Kate?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we are fine. It’s the heart that aches for a city in turmoil. Thanks, Mark. ❤
LikeLike
what a great day, mark. i love all the action, the food, the music, the games, the colors. i’m a festival lover as you know. i’ve never tried the crawfish, but love most everything in the seafood category )
LikeLike
I just can’t dig the crawfish principal, Beth. If you try and like, more power to you, Michigander. Me, oy. Shrimp and lobster only.
LikeLike
MBM, I have to admit, I’ve never had the urge to put a creature’s face in my mouth and inhale it’s brains. Just can’t make myself do it…..
Meatball sandwich on the other hand…….
And you wouldn’t believe how many times I had to rewrite this to try and make it sound “not dirty”. !!!!!
LikeLike
You succeeded in keeping this G-Rated 100 percent, MBC. Not even -13. And I agree so. so much on your clean dirty thoughts
LikeLike
Whew. 🙂 Thank goodness for re-edits. The first one I wrote I had to scrap IMMEDIATELY! But the meatballs sandwiches….when they are done right…superb!!!
LikeLike
Yes. Yes, they are MBC. 😮
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice. Hoboken looked very much like this today, minus the crawdads! 😉
LikeLike
Crawdads are very peculiar, I guess. They only go where they are dragged in a bucket, Wormy. I think maybe they put the brakes on in Parsippany?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, no, Mark. They go everywhere in Oklahoma, all of their own accord.
LikeLike
I’ve never had the urge to actually eat crawfish bro. Mark. Never wanted snails either. Around here we use them both to bait hooks for the catfish. Well, actually, we prefer seeing how many snails we can squish under the car tires first, then the cats feast on them (ICK!) but if there are no worms available, then, and only then, they are used for bait. Catfish is the only bottom feeder I want to eat. 🙂 You have a lot of neat festivals up there little brother. Our International Barbeque Festival is next weekend, the first fest of the summer, so expecting a stormy weekend for Mother’s Day, as usual.
LikeLike
I wish MDW Karen and could come down to Kentucky to join you for Barbecue Festival, sis Angie. Maybe someday, my dear. I can dream. But I cannot suck down crawfish. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
No crawfish at the BBQ fest bro Mark. Just some of the best BBQ in the world, plus burgoo, our famous food of the gods. You and Karen should start making plans to come some year in the near future. It’s always the weekend of Mother’s Day, begins on Friday, and ends on Saturday. The only drawback is that it always starts storming about the time they light the official fire on Friday night. The cooking teams always manage to get the food done in time for the judging and the eating though, so it’s always a good time for everyone.
LikeLike
We hear you, sis Angie. 😉
LikeLike
had crawfish is New Orleans looked like a smaller version of what we call crayfish (or cray’s or muddies). YUMMO but needed to be bigger lol
LikeLike
Mabel, you have been to more places here than I have. So that means you and Calvin have to come visit Karen and I in Syracuse and eat some wings and salt potatoes. 😉 Oops. Calvin will have to eat something other than chicken wings.
LikeLike
Next time we are up your way you can count on it Mark 👍
LikeLike
Beer tent! Swooooooon ~~~~~~~~
LikeLike
Yeah, regular beer and craft beer, too, Angie McFly. Karen got a Bud Light. I wanted wine, and my choices were red and white. I got red. 🙂 It was fine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my yes please!
LikeLike
Well, we call em crawdads, and yes, I eat em! I eat everything! I like a good meatball sammich now and again, but not more than shellfish! Yummo!
LikeLike
You are open-minded and open-mouthed for these crawdads, Joey. Good for you! The meatball sammich hit the spot for my tummy. Yummo, yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Once you’ve had Maryland blue crabs,crawfish just don’t compare ! Great photos, Mark, and I’d have gone for the meatballs too, just for the bread ! ☺ Van
LikeLike
It was quite the treat, the heels with the meatballs and sauce on top, Van. The six years I lived down your way, I watched my friends eat blue claws and all the crabs put in front of them. I’m the odd one who loves lobster and shrimp but not crab. And no thank you to the crawfish.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I was a kid, I preferred the Old Bay seasoned shrimp…the sharp crab shells were hard on my fingers. I, too, would pass on the crawfish. ☺
LikeLike
Are you sure that we didn’t go to the U of Maryland together at the end of the 1970s, Van? 🙂 I feel like I know you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry, young man, Penn State, class of 73. lol ☺
LikeLike
I like you anyway, Van. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d forgotten about the long-standing competition/hatred until my sister in law, a PSU grad, spawned 2 Maryland students. The family survived. ☺
LikeLike
Yeah, rivalries shmivalires. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, that shrimp looks good. And it sounds like the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor event after the long winter we just went through.
LikeLike
We deserve it up here, don’t we, CM? I hope it’s great out your way, too. Happy Sunday, my friend.
LikeLike
It’s beautiful here today. Hubby decided to paint the front of the house – again, so I spent most the day outside holding the ladder.
LikeLike
We call them “Crawdaddies” down here. Or “Mudbugs.” What a fun day!
LikeLike
It was a great day, Kimi. “Mudbugs” is one of the reasons why I look but do not eat. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicely done! I can’t believe you had meatballs at a crawfish fest though. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some meatballs but if there are crawfish or better yet, shrimp then meatballs will take a backseat fo’ sho’. Besides with meatballs, the quality of the bread is as important as the meatballs and sauce. There is a lot to go wrong there. We had our local crawfish fest too so it must be the thing to do the first weekend of May. I guess being May (no r’s in the month of May) “ersters” are off limits now. Rats.
LikeLike
Columbus Bakery was the Meatballs in a Heel makers, DE, so I had no fear about the bread portion, and they did it right.
Now, I know you will be sorely disappointed in my crawfish refusal, but they are just so darn unappetizing to my eye and mind. I love shrimp, but can and do get them everywhere, and to me, far more can go wrong keeping shrimp fresh and healthy at an outdoor portable feast than meatballs. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Now, DE, please do lecture me in the ways of your beloved N’awlins. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I forget, I have the distinct advantage of fresh, local seafood and reputable fishmongers.
LikeLike
You have a lot of advantages to we inlanders, DE! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know, I can’t recall ever having eaten crawfish. What am I missing?Like the big one of the band and also the one of the (I’m guessing) crawfish and shrimp?? Anyway, both nicely framed.
LikeLike
Yes, that’s the crawfish with the shrimp. They tell me you’re missing a lot skipping the crawfish, but I still do not, Marissa. Thanks for the kind words on the photos.
LikeLike
Yep, I won’t put it on my bucket list!!
LikeLike
Crawfish….YUMMY!!
LikeLike
I’m glad you like it, Michelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know, I’m going to Vegas soon. I love their buffets and I bet I will run into a crawfish or two. Maybe I can prove that theory for myself!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That looks like a lot of fun Mark. I’ve never tried craw fish although I would like to. I had plenty of opportunities when i hauled into Louisiana but at the time I wasn’t interested. i liked the pic of the crawfish best Mark – the juxtaposition between the tow types looks really neat.
LikeLike
I haven’t and won’t try them, Paul. I don’t have the stomach for the way you have to eat the buggers! I do like the photo, though! Thanks. 🙂
LikeLike
Love seeing signs that Spring has finally arrived, and festivals are one of them. Glad you had a great time.
LikeLike
Thanks, George. It was nice. Very. Yay.
LikeLike