How is Mudbug Madness Different This Year?

One of my favorite festivals, right behind the Revel, is Mudbug Madness.  This is another festival that we've watched grow from humble beginnings, to a major event for the ArklaTex.  Mudbug Madness began in 1984, and is now recognized by the Southeast Tourism Society as a top 20 event.  The festival runs Memorial Day Weekend, May 27th-29th in Shreveport's Festival Plaza.

Being a celebration of life in Louisiana, Mudbug Madness features delicious Louisiana cuisine, including burgers, etouffee, gumbo, and of course crawfish. And whatever type music you like, you'll find it, including rock, blues, country, and zydeco.  Lots of zydeco!  Some of the regional artists include Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, Ol' Whiskey Revival, the CheeWees, and country band Shenandoah.  There will also be locals artists like hometown favorite Buddy Flett, What the Funk, and the Clay Logan Band.

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But what is going to make this year's festival different than any other year is simple. After over two years of being locked down, shut in, and fed up... people are ready to get out of the house and live life again!  There was Mudbug Madness last year, but it was tempered ever so slightly by the lingering effects of the pandemic.  I wasn't able to participate in the Media Crawfish Eating Contest, which I've done for years, because of work restrictions.  No one in politics will admit, at any point, that the 'pandemic is over.'  But after over 2 years of not being able to do the things that make life in the south, particularly life in Shreveport, so unique and awesome, we are now able to get back to living life!