MASSIVE MUDBUG POPULATION TO INVADE FESTIVAL PLAZA

Shreveport will be home to tons of crawfish as Mudbug Madness kicks off its 31st annual festival May 22-25 in Festival Plaza.

The event promises to deliver the party feel of a backyard crawfish boil in the atmosphere of downtown Shreveport.

Terri Matthews is in her 20th year as event chair for Mudbug Madness. “It’s hard to put a description to it, but there’s a feeling you get when you’re down there with the music and the smells of boiled crawfish – and of course a few cold beverages don’t hurt! It’s just the people that come out and have such a good time – it really is just a party. You can’t go and not have a good time,” Matthews said.

Mudbug Madness offers Cajun and Creole cuisine, along with three stages of music to keep festival-goers moving.

“The food is awesome. We have Cajun and Creole as well as traditional festival food for everyone’s palate. Of course, our most popular item is boiled crawfish, and there will be plenty,” Matthews said. “I know some people who are worried a little bit because they’ve heard the weather has hurt the crawfish crop, but I’ll tell you what, our distributors that provide for our festival will hold back in other areas to make sure the festival is taken care of, so we never worry about that.”

The music lineup promises to keep everyone dancing. “It’s exciting. We have probably one of the better lineups of entertainment that we’ve had in a while. Our Swamp Stage has become very popular, and that’s our local and regional groups. This year, we have Dirtfoot, Super Water Symphony and

Cody Cook and the Bayou Outlaws to name a few,” she said. “Of course our main stage is where we have the Cajun and Zydeco [music], which is what we were built around. Wayne Toups will be there, along with Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe among others. We also have our children’s stage, which helps keep them entertained.”

There will be several vendors at Mudbug Madness as well. “We have over 20 art and craft booths with everything from handmade crafts to well-known artists to jewelers. We have pretty much everything you can think of. It’s a pretty good combination, and it’s gotten pretty popular as well. We feel we have gotten it to the point where it offers all of the variables that people look for,” Matthews said.

The Mudbug Madness festival is owned by Downtown Shreveport Unlimited, a nonprofit company whose goal is to bring attention and positive experiences to the downtown area. “[DSU] is sort of a cheerleader for downtown. Our mission isn’t to build things, not brick and mortar but to make downtown a friendlier more happening place,” DSU Executive Director Melanie Bacon said.

DSU not only runs the Mudbug show, but they also help other events in the downtown area as well.

“We take profits from Mudbug Madness, and we re-grant them to other events that are trying to get off the ground or to ongoing events that just do awesome things for downtown like the Farmers Market,” Bacon said. “We also grant money to people that are bringing a whole different group of people downtown, not just your basic downtown workers. For example, we sponsored the Pink Party. A lot of people who attend that may not ever come downtown, so we want to show off downtown and give downtowners and the whole city something fun to do.”

Bacon, who is in her 17th year working for the festival, loves what Mudbug Madness represents. “When I used to live in Dallas and found myself home over Memorial Day weekend, I would always go to Mudbug Madness because it just feels like Louisiana. When you’re over in Texas, it has different feel. Louisiana has its own unique culture and music, and I think Mudbug embodies that,” she said.

Bacon said she enjoys the crawfisheating contest.

“If you haven’t seen the crawfisheating contest, that is a sight to behold!

We have 15 men on stage competing to eat the most crawfish in 15 minutes. They are so serious about it, they are slinging crawfish. It’s one of those afternoons that everyone just wants to sit down and have a beer.”

For Matthews, Mudbug Madness has become a part of who she is. “I love this community, but I’ve been involved with the festival for so many years that the committee has become family. We are run by a committee of about 20, we are all volunteers and only have one staff person who actually works for DSU, which is our presenting company. I’m on the board for DSU, I am also passionate about downtown, and so anything that I can do to enhance the quality of living in downtown is what I want to do,” Matthews said.

For the first time ever there will be a Mudbug Madness app for the iPhone. “It’s very user friendly – you can find parking, you can find what the food vendors have, you’ll know who is playing on what stage, and you can even hear a sample of their music. It’s going to be a really cool thing. It’s called the Mudbug Madness app, and it’s available in the iTunes store,” Matthews said.

Tickets for Mudbug Madness are available online at mudbugmadness. com or can be purchased at the gate.

“We are a fun festival, there’s a synergy down there that makes people want to come back. It’s really is a big, backyard crawfish boil,” Matthews said. “I heard someone say this a long time ago – and I’ve used it ever since – ‘Crayfish can be found in every state of the union. Crawfish can be found in every state in the South. But Mudbugs is a state of mind.’ Mudbug Madness is definitely a state of mind.”