Isleton Crawdad Festival

Illustration of a crawdad character over black text on a yellow background

The Isleton Crawdad Festival, hosted by the city's Chamber of Commerce, takes place each year over Father's Day weekend in Isleton, California. It is modeled after similar festivals held in Louisiana and features traditional Cajun style music and dishes, including steamed crawdads, gumbo, and jambalaya. The festival began in 1986, after a tourist from Louisiana excitedly regaled Isleton citizens about the festivals back home. Isleton Chamber of Commerce members worked with Breaux Bridge, Louisiana to establish the Isleton festival, even going so far as to buy a crawdad boiling rig from the Breaux Bridge festival organizer. Since then, the Festival has grown into a three day affair, featuring local vendor booths, crawdad races, and an all ages carnival.