Crustacean Celebration Returns

By Adrian Knowler

After a one-year hiatus, the festival made a strong comeback this summer, with the restaurant reporting 900 visitors over two days. Despite a lightning storm and golf ball-sized hail on Saturday night, the severe weather did nothing to dampen the crowd’s cravings for crawdads.
The restaurant offered attendees a variety of ways to enjoy the shellfish, which tastes similar to lobster or crab. Festival-goers ate them boiled with a side of butter and lemon, in a flavorful gumbo, or fried and stuffed into a po’ boy sandwich.
Volunteer crawdad chef Cloie Gilbert helped start the tradition as a summer cookout with friends and family 40 years ago. She’s cooked crawdads at each year’s edition since the festival has been put on by Skyway.
What started as a modest get-together has blossomed over the years, with the restaurant stocking a whopping 500 pounds of crawdads for the 2024 edition - many of which were sourced from nearby Timothy Lake.
The party has also evolved to include a lineup of live bands, with jug, country, and blues bands providing a lively backdrop to this year’s festivities.
When asked how she prefers to savor the delicacy, Gilbert said she likes to keep it simple.
“Hot, right out of the pot,” she said.
The restaurant staff prepared to serve up to 600 people, according to longtime chef Jason Hornor, who revealed that the boil recipe includes cayenne, bay leaf, and a few secret ingredients.
The corn and potatoes served as side dishes are boiled in the same water and take on a smokey and salty flavor after mingling with the seafood.
Hornor said that the staff is always excited for the return of the shellfish shindig.
“We’re still working hard, but it feels like it’s a day off,” he said, pointing out that the live music and the chance to dress up with beads and face paint provide the crew with “an escape from the normal.”
Ed Grenfell has been boiling crawfish at the festival for over a decade and came back this year, despite recently moving to Arizona. He drove 1,300 miles to keep the tradition alive and see his friends at his favorite party of the year.
“It’s like going to a little Mardi Gras,” he said.
Shane Stuckey also traveled from the Grand Canyon State with his partner, who used to live in the Mount Hood area and has attended for years. Although this was Stuckey’s first time at the festival, he felt right at home, with seafood boils a regular part of his upbringing in the South.
He said the quality of the meat surpasses what he remembers in South Carolina, where the crustaceans are often referred to as mudbugs. He said the clear waters and diet of Pacific northwest crawdads is reflected in their “clean” flavor.
Attendees left with full bellies and smiles on their faces.
“It’s a quality down home small town event,” said Skyway co-owner Tracie Anderson. “We make a lot of people happy and it’s just fun.”
Anderson said she only eats crawdads once per year, but she makes sure to get her fill.
“I eat three pounds on Sunday night when the festival is winding down,” she said. “I get enough for the whole year.”