The Syracuse Crawfish Fest returns this weekend, but it’s take-out only

2019 Syracuse Crawfish Festival

Cracking a crawfish open during the 2019 Syracuse Crawfish Festival in Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY, Saturday May 4, 2019. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.

Syracuse, N.Y. — The annual Syracuse Crawfish Festival, a sure sign of spring in Central New York for most of the last 14 years, returns in a modified form Saturday at the Inner Harbor.

Due to Covid-19 protocols, this year’s festival will be a “grab and go” event and will be combined with a food truck rodeo. As always. it’s a fundraiser for the non-profit charity Operation Northern Comfort.

This year’s event runs noon to 6 p.m. Saturday (May 1) on the lot near the corner of Solar and West Kirkpatrick streets. Patrons are asked to park and then walk up (wearing masks) to either the Operation Northern Comfort food tent or one of the seven food trucks.

There will be no music or other entertainment, said publicity volunteer Laurel Flanagan. Those attending can bring lawn chairs and set them up nearby, or take their food home.

Payment can be made by cash or credit cards, and there will be an ATM on site.

Food at the Northern Comfort tent includes fresh boiled Louisiana crawfish and Gulf of Mexico shrimp, which will be flown up from Louisiana on Friday. The tent also serves the Central New York favorites clams and salt potatoes.

The seven participating food trucks are Glazed & Confused Donuts, Toss & Fire Pizza, Skinny’s Blooming Onions, Ma &Pa Kettle Corn, Limp Lizard BBQ, Bold Coast Lobster and Cue Dogs.

Last year’s Crawfish Fest was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year, organizers are navigating around the rules and protocols still in place, including capacity limits, Flanagan said.

“We’re always the first festival of the season, and this year we’re the first of the season and the first to give it a go under the current situation,” Flanagan said. “We’d like to be back to normal, but we have to work with the rules as they are.”

Operation Northern Comfort's Desks4Kids

Operation Northern Comfort, a non-profit partly funded by the annual Syracuse Crawfish Fest, has built more than 1,100 desk for students across Central New York.

Proceeds this year will benefit Operation Northern Comfort’s current major endeavor, called Desks4Kids. That has provided more than 1,100 desks, built by volunteers, to students in the Syracuse city schools and other as far away as Altmar-Parish-Williamstown in Oswego County and Cortland and Homer in Cortland County.

The desks program originated with a goal of building 500 desks, intended to help families in need of them for pandemic home-schooling. But the demand is still there, Flanagan said.

Also, due to an ongoing lumber shortage, the price of each desk has risen from $22 to about $30, she said.

The group is also continuing to work on building ramps for the disabled and making Blessing Boxes, which can be set out for people to give and take items as needed.

The Crawfish Fest started in Syracuse’s Hanover Square in 2008 as a fundraiser for what was then called Operation Southern Comfort. Founder Norm Andrzejewski started it as a group of volunteers who headed to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

It was later renamed Operation Northern Comfort and provided aid to those affected by Hurricane Sandy, and then embarked on other projects closer to home. The fest has moved around to different locations over the years, including Chevy Court at the State Fairgrounds, and Clinton Square in downown Syracuse.

“We’re happy to be back and to be able to help our community,” said long-time Northern Comfort / Crawfish Fest volunteer Joyce Reap. “Hopefully next year will be even better.”

More news on CNY events:

Cuomo says NYS Fair will happen in 2021: ‘The Fair must go on’

Syracuse Nationals returning for 2021, Cuomo says

St. Sophia’s Greek Festival update: Some return to normal, some changes

For the second straight year, Covid cancels Taste of Syracuse

Don Cazentre writes for NYup.comsyracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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