Did you know there's a whole kids' section at Mudbug Madness? There is! I took my daughter there yesterday afternoon, and she had a great time.

In addition to all the great food and entertainment for mom and dad, the little ones have so many fun things to take part in. The kids' area features things like a giant blow-up tornado slide and another area with a couple of bouncies (those cost 1 and 3 tickets, respectively).

tornado slide
Photo: Angela Thomas
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There's face painting for $5 to $10, depending on what kind of design you want. And there was a great band playing, featuring a young bassist and guitar player and an older gentleman on drums. They were the best we heard.

If that wasn't enough, there's a FREE area with children's activities. You've got the bean bag toss, ball toss, painting with design stamps (you can find our pictures hanging on the clothes line!) and the kids can even help paint a huge crawfish sculpture.

One of the most fun things for us was the live crawfish races. No worries about them pinching those little fingers, either. The claws are banded so no one gets hurt.

mudbug race
Photo: Angela Thomas
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An interesting booth called Amazing & Beautiful Butterflies is set up in that area, too. It features insects inside all sorts of casings - frames, keychains, necklaces and earrings. We got a couple of keychains -- one with a scorpion and spiky crab spider inside, and the other with a mini-seahorse complete with shells and water plants.

Of course, you will find great boiled crawfish at the event. That's what it's all about, after all! Expect to pay $10 for a styrofoam tray packed with mudbugs, potatoes and corn. I had some of those, plus some great jambalaya from a booth called Pirogues. They also serve some amazing strawberry shortcake, by the way, with cakes they fry up themselves.

You can take photos with some of the "animals" walking around (I saw a penguin and a polar bear), and behind some of the wooden cut-outs (crawfish, of course!) And the kiddos will certainly enjoy the snow cones and other frozen treats.

mudbug cutout
Photo: Angela Thomas
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We did a lot of walking, but we met some nice people and enjoyed a great afternoon of fun! The festival is open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. today and tomorrow, so you really should head out there.

Angela mudbug
Photo: Angela Thomas
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