TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- The 22nd annual Crawfish Festival took over Kleman Plaza once again this weekend, and this year it was bigger and better than ever!
Hundreds of people enjoyed live music, games and 5,000 pounds of crawfish, all while giving back to the community. This year, the Crawfish Festival supported the Police Unity Tour and Tallahassee Memorial Hospital's NICU and their goal to buy a giraffe bed.
We spoke with Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and world-renowned Chef Art Smith for their thoughts on the festival. Click the thumbnail to see the whole interview, including their advice for the best way to eat crawfish!
"We are so fortunate to continue to have this event every single year. It adds to the quality-of-life. This year for us, my family and I, is particularly special because one of the benefactor organization is the Tallahassee NICU. Our babies were premature. We spent plenty of weeks in that NICU. The caring energy of the nurses...we couldn't have done it without them. They taught us literally everything we needed to know that has gotten us through these 11 months. So it's a great cause, but also some great eating as well," said Mayor Gillum.
Chef Smith adds: "I'm all about community as the mayor is. I just adopted four kids, and I understand the importance of great medical facilities like TMH and what they've done. I'm a former resident of Tallahassee, and part of a great community is a great hospital. But also part of a great community is a great big party!"
"I love Florida," Chef Smith adds. "Florida is so full of great wonderful people and the weather and everything. But most importantly we're here to celebrate children, we're here to celebrate great communities like Tallahassee, great mayors and also the importance of having important medical facilities to take care of us in those times when we need them. Whether it's taking care of babies or taking care of ourselves and our seniors. So here's to communities that care."
