Isleton Cajun Festival

I write this as someone who attended my first Crawdad Festival in Isleton in 1988 and every year thereafter until it went on hiatus a few years back. What’s being presented today is a shell of what it used to be and it’s a shame. Politics, greed and egos will do it every time. As my Dad would say «they’d screw up a skunk picnic» and in this case, they did. This event was a real shot in the arm for the Delta as a whole and for the town of Isleton. It was a great time where folks got together, chilled, ate, drank and enjoyed great music. Now? Just memories, disbelief and lingering resentment by many former attendees.

The people who are running this event have no idea how to put on a good event that people will have a good time and come back year after year it all started when they did not have a carnival people want to come to a event that has something for everyone and no carnival means that the people with kids are not likely to come next they moved the whole event way out of town and put a ridiculous fee to get in the gate. As a person who has lived in isleton since the first craw dad festival began i am discussed by the way it is ran it used to bring over 40,000 people a day and generated lots of revenue for the local business owners and citizens of the town it’s very sad to see how it has been destroyed by people who are to lazy and selfish to consider the damage that they have and are causing the people of isleton and the people who supported the festival in the past a monkey could do a better job of arranging this event i have not been since it has been moved away it is not the crayfish festival any more and they get 2 thumbs down for their terrible way that they have done things.

Last years Festival was great. this years should be even better! The 2015 Cajun & Blues Festival, sponsored by the Isleton Chamber of Commerce, held this Father’s Day Weekend at E2 Family Winery on Highway 12 in Lodi, is dedicated to his memory this year, as every blues musician from festivals to the smallest of venues will honor his memory. All those players in every genre who loved him, will play the blues in honor of him as they have never played before!
I first saw B. B King live at Crabshaw Corners in Sacramento when I was just a teen playing rock & roll/​countrymusic as a harmonica player. I left that show a convert to the blues. While I learned to appreciate all blues, Billie Holiday, with her jazz styled infused blues, was my favorite female artist. B.B. King my favorite male blues artist. His pure original style making «Lucille» cry the blues every which way no other guitarist could, propelled B.B. to take his art-​form worldwide. All the greats after him owe him homage as the trailblazer of American Blues.
While B.B. King had his influences from earlier blues figures, B.B. took the blues mainstream. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Elvin Bishop, just to name a few, all learned from… The Master.
While «The Thrill Is Gone» his music and influence will live on. The lineup for this years Isleton Cajun & Blues Festival has some of the hottest acts in the business… and some of the best acts in Zydeco-​Cajun Music from the Delta who will no doubt let their blues influence shine also. Should be the best festival yet!

oh, no, no, no,. First and last. This is no Cajun at all the crawfish taste and smell like mud no seasoning. Well had mud stuck on it belly too. You have to park your car in the corn field and a bus take you to the festival. That take about an hour late. Ladies if you going to make yourself pretty for the festival don’t. Get your pedicure done just so that when you wait for the bus in the corn field you can collect the dirt and dry cow maneuver. When the bus finally arrive make sure you turn your face the other way because your going to get plenty of dirt and poop on your face. Bring extra sunscreen too. There are no shade what so ever. If it wasn’t for the free ticket I wouldn’t bother. $ 25 to get in and food was really over price. The food was not made for human. I don’t think they try it before selling it. These people are out for high way robbery. I wouldn’t give them any star if I had a choice. About 3″ alligator on a stick for $ 12 no seasoning at all. $ 4 for one oyster. Be prepare to be broke when leaving.

Way over priced food! Plus $ 25 per person to get in! No way! The traffic was backed up all the way across Bouldin Island to Tower Park! No thanks!
It was out in the middle of nowhere; not in town where all the businesses are located. It use to be fun to shop in downtown during the Crawdad Festival.
We will start going back when it is moved back to town and set the price back to $ 5

First experience and probably be my last. Food was very pricey + $ 25 fee to get in? I was very disappointed with the food. Had some crawdads, garlic noodles, gator on a stick, bbq oysters, cajun fries, italian ice cream, and beignets. The ONLY thing that was good was the italian ice cream. That’s definitely not CAJUN! lol Oh and the festival was small and no shade to sit under. If you did find shade it was near the garbage cans.

What a ripoff! The fine folks of Isleton started charging a couple years ago. This year, the gate fee was $ 15.00! When we got in, we realized the whole festival was a line of cheesy vendors on the main street. There used to be a side street that had vendors and at the end of the street was the carnival (midway). That is all gone and now there are just a few vendors ripping people off for crappy tourist items.
I really loved the old crawdad festival, but this new thing (what ever they call it) just has greed written all over it. Save a bunch of money, buy a couple pounds of crawdads at your local retailer and have a good time with your own boil.
I wish I could say the festival was great, but I would definitely be lying!

I MISS THE CRAWDAD FEST
I used to spend Father’s Day weekend with my dad at the Isleton Crawdad Festival. We would walk around and watch the crawdad races and eat containers of crawdads. Until I started keeping the ones I caught at our home creek as pets; then I couldn’t eat them at the festival without feeling guilty. I didn’t eat any this year because they were so f*kn expensive. I’m sorry, festivals are known for pricey food, but I wasn’t about to overpay for these.
There were quite a few food options for the small-​sized festival. We decided to share a jumbo turkey leg from Willie Birds BBQ ($ 10). Flavor alert! This was insanely tasty. It was crispy and juicy and full of flavor — every bite. Hard to eat because it was very messy. Hard to share because it was very good. I had a lemonade with cucumber, orange, lime and peppermint for $ 2 from Arepas Bululu and it was really good too. So no complaints on the food. But $ 15 each to enter the festival, just in order to buy food?
There was some live music (the band at the end of the street was terrific), stages with music playing were in a couple different places and we danced at one for a bit. Lots of vendors were around selling beads, sunglasses, bathtubs, and other trinkets. There was a mechanical bull and a little train for kids. We walked into most of the businesses and even checked out the museum. A stop at the bar and then a performance by Elvis, and that was it.
I think next year we’ll do the Pirate Festival in Vallejo instead, if they fall on the same weekend again. It was less money — and hopefully it will have more to do. Sad to replace such fond childhood memories of a great Festival with what it’s become.

First off, I love the Sacramento Delta and the town of Isleton. This was formerly the Crawdad Festival and it used to be free. This is not worth a $ 15 per person entrance fee for a few reasons. Of all the food we tried none of it was very good and over-​priced even for fair food, namely some bland, overcooked crawdads and grease drenched fried foods. The parking situation was confusing. We ended up walking a long way and there was not ample seating or shade. It was pretty much a long strip of unexciting vendors and limited entertainment in the full sun. It did not work for my grandmother and I would also worry about children getting overheated or bored.

Like Unilocal’s 2-​stars review say: Meh. I’ve experienced better. But I’ve also experienced worse (Garlic Fest). At least I came and tried. I did enjoy the small-​town feel and the alligator meat. The crawdad was not fresh! Very disappointed. Oh, and the Crawdad sign read: CRADAD! Seriously people?! I should have taken a picture next to the sign! LMAO. Don’t think we’ll be back; too damn hot.

It had been several years since I had been back to Isleton for their Crawdad Festival. Then that business sold out and moved to another town farther away. But now Isleton created their own local festival and renamed it the Cajun Festival.
We came here on Father’s Day Sunday — June 19^th. Arrived somewhat early ~11:00 am. There was very little waiting time for us as we were flagged down by a nearby homeowner who was offering parking for $ 5.00 on her front lawn property. This was a nice convenience that allowed us to avoid a hot, dusty parking lot which we almost entered following other vehicles.
Then there was a short walk to the back gate as we paid the nominal entrance fee of another $ 5.00. Initially my experience was up beat and excited. Bands were playing Cajun music, people were dancing, and a variety of food and drink were available. But it didn’t take long until a multitude of people began pouring in. The pleasantness soon wore off for me. Now we were having to wait in long lines to eat or drink. There were very few places to sit. The food court was located on a big dusty, sun baked lot. A variety of food stands were available, but once we got our food, there was no place to sit and eat! It was ridiculous to have to find someplace to stand and hold a drink in one hand and a meal in the other. We’re too old to squat and eat!
My Cajun food didn’t meet my expectations either. Nothing like my grandma used to make. The red beans and rice were pretty bland, and the jambalaya was over spiced. The sweet potato fries and strawberry lemonade were at least good. If you wanted an alcoholic beverage, you had to stand in line at one booth to buy tickets, then walk over to another booth to pick up your drink! Margaritas were $ 7.00 and if you wanted an extra shot of tequila, it was an additional $ 3.00. Beer was $ 5.00. Wine was also available, but I didn’t check the prices.
The bands on that day played SOME Cajun music, but not as much as I had hoped for that included zydeco. They often mixed in some rock, blues or country. There was a nice shade covered dance floor that was surrounded by bales of hay for sitting, or people who had previously claimed their spots with their own portable chairs. This made it a bit difficult for people to enter the floor without having to maneuver around the onlookers.
So I have to say that the festival was OK at best. Has potential but needs to work out some bugs. The lesson I learned here is, be sure to bring your own folding chairs, use sunscreen, stake a «shady» spot if you can find one, bring lots of cash to spend, and get there early!

Didn’t’ even go in. Arrived around noon on sunday. Met on the highway by very rude men directing traffic that would not allow us to enter had to drive a few miles down 160 to u turn. Once parked found a line nearly half way around the town. Went to the front and saw festival workers moving slower than caltrans pot hole fillers. Did not want to wait in line to pay to enter and left

I actually went to this Festival and it was pretty legit! The food options were plentiful, no huge lines and plenty of live bands playing their music. A bit far but we had fun. It’s almost like like stepping back into time, that town was so dinky and the buildings on the main strip were all old and had their own little personalities.
All the food we tried were good, even though not all were cajun related. I would have to say the biggest disappointment there would be the crawdads they sold. for $ 10 you get a togo box full of pretty decent sized crawfish, except they were pre-​cooked frozen dead and reheated with a few sprinkles of flavor. It was pretty gross, the tales tasted like they were over cooked, rubbery and tasteless. We couldn’t even finished half the container, just tossed it. What a waste. Good thing the festival is no longer called the ‘Crawdad Festival’ like it use to be, otherwise I’d be running my own one woman riot.
There were rough looking people (lots of bikers!) there but everyone was there just to eat and have a good time so it was all good.
Overall a nice little festival, I’d go again.

Isleton was beautiful… who knew there was a bayou-​like swamp town so close to home. I went with high hopes for Louisiana type food, I left disappointed. Overall, I’d go again — great music and people watching.
If you ask my tween, this was the perfect day. Why? Oh because (without warning) some cougar flashed some random guys to earn some mardi gras beads. The scary part is I would have never known had my son not exclaimed to me «MOM, THAT LADY JUST SHOWED HER THINGS AND THEY BOTH HAD EARRINGS»
Flippin’ Guhhhreat… thanks lady.