Crawfish and Cannons event taking over Fort Belknap next weekend News Staff Tue, 04/02/2024 - 9:58 am
- (THE GRAHAM LEADER | ARCHIVE PHOTO) Visitors to the Crawfish and Cannons event in 2023 chow down on some crawfish available at the event. The event this year will be held Saturday, April 13 at Fort Belknap.
- (THE GRAHAM LEADER | ARCHIVE PHOTO) Cannons are fired at the Crawfish and Cannons event in 2023 signifying the start of one the races for the Goodnight-Loving Run. The event this year will be held Saturday, April 13 at Fort Belknap in Newcastle.
Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com
The sounds of cannon fire, the smell of crawfish and the rush of runners will be part of the lineup for the Crawfish and Cannons event next weekend at Fort Belknap.
The fort will host Crawfish and Cannons, the Goodnight-Loving Run, the Texas Fort Trail Wine Festival and more Saturday, April 13, with tickets available online at crawfishandcannons.com.
The day starts with the Goodnight-Loving Run, which is an out-and-back run from the entrance of Fort Belknap down and back on FM 61. The run has a 5K, 10K and half marathon with registration available online and on the day of the event for $50, $70 and $95, respectively.
Due to the run taking place on FM 61, the road will be closed form Fort Belknap to FM 3003 from 7-11 a.m.
Registration is available online at runsignup.com and race day registration will be held from 7:30-8:15 a.m. Event times are 8:30 a.m. for the half marathon, 9 a.m. for the 10K and 9:30 a.m. for the 5K. A post-race party will be held at 10:30 a.m. and the awards ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m.
Crawfish and Cannons will have a live crawfish boil, cannon firing on the hour, children’s activities, vendors, armadillo races and live music. Gates for the event open at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with crawfish being served at 11:30 a.m.
Along with potatoes and corn, approximately 3,000 pounds of crawfish are brought to the event each year for hungry patrons. With the event selling out each year, it has grown into a premier Young County destination.
“It’s sold out the last three years and we have the capacity for 2,500, so that’s pretty incredible,” Visit Graham Director Amanda Dulany said. “...We do make an effort to have a great selection of non-crawfish options. We have a long-standing relationship with the Graham Lions Club to (sell) sausage. ...We’ve got the volunteer fire department doing a kid friendly option and this year (and) we’ll have the Graham High School Smokin’ Steers doing barbecue as well.”
Along with getting a bite to eat, a concert will be held with music from Red Shahan and American Aquarium. Red Shahan will begin at 12:30 p.m. and American Aquarium will begin at 2 p.m.
One of the reasons the event was started was to raise awareness of the fort and Dulany said the it does just that.
“Jim Hammond at the fort does a great job of preparing the fort and putting their best face forward during this event,” Dulany said. “…Everything that he has out there is also on display during this event. So you may come for Crawfish and Cannons and live music but the fort museum is open. So it’s a really good opportunity to draw people in and teach them what that history is (at the fort).”
Visit Graham partners with Olney EDC and Keep Olney Beautiful for the event and also tries to provide a variety of vendors.
“This year we’ve got everything from somebody preparing mini powdered sugar donuts to somebody who makes knives. We’ve got somebody (selling) children’s clothing. We’ve got somebody who’s going to do a custom trucker hat booth. Somebody else doing custom cookies. So it’s varied for sure,” Dulany said. “We will have the Newcastle varsity cheerleaders raising awareness for their clubs as well as the Newcastle bass fishing team raising awareness for their group. So it’s nice that we’re able to partner with more than just folks from Graham.”
The Texas Fort Trail Wine Festival begins at 11 a.m. and features a selection of wineries and vineyards across Texas.
“They try to bring between 5 and 10 wineries to participate in that,” Dulany said. “What’s special about that is this is the Texas Forts Trail Wine Festival, but all of these wineries are located within the Texas Forts Trail region. So it is very important to our area here to promote what we have.”
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