Shrimp and Petroleum Festival

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Booth after booth after booth of festival food is the calling card of the long-running Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, which has returned to Morgan City every summertime for almost ninety years. That first parade is remembered as a ragtag procession of local frog and alligator hunters, shrimpers, crabbers, and oystermen demonstrating on Labor Day. 

Famous for its Historic Blessing of the Fleet and boat parade, which features decorated shrimp boats, pleasure crafts, offshore supply boats, and some of the biggest "muscle" boats of the offshore industry, this festival has been rated a top 20 Southeast Tourism Society event. Time magazine described it as "...the best, the most unusual, the most down-home, the most moving and the most fun that the country has to offer."

This five-day crustacean celebration is one of Louisiana's oldest harvest festivals, a true celebration of men and women working in the region's seafood and petroleum industries and the ways they work hand-in-hand culturally and environmentally. 

Entertainment includes continuous live music by local and national acts, an arts & crafts show and sale, a children's village, fireworks, a car show, bass & softball tournaments, the huge Cajun Culinary Classic cooking contest, and lots more. Event locations vary, with most of the action centered around downtown Morgan City's Lawrence Park. Free. shrimpandpetroleum.org.

In the leadup, don't miss the chance to participate in the festival's "Shrimply Delicious" Food Trail Giveaway—which starts tomorrow and lasts until the festival. All you've got to do is get yourself to the coast, and stuff yourself silly with fresh, local shrimp, for a chance to win a VIP Trip to the festival and a shrimp boil gift pack. Find details at cajuncoast.com/shrimplygiveaway.