7th annual Crawfish & Cannons fest sells out again

The 7th Annual Crawfish and Cannons Festival drew a sold-out crowd to Fort Belknap over Easter weekend, with more than 3,000 attendees spreading their cash to Young County businesses as well. Tickets for the Saturday, April 8 festival sold out about a week before the event so the organizers – Fort Belknap and the Graham Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau issued more tickets, Fort Belknap director Jim Hammond said.

“We had sold out of general admission tickets the week before and released more, and then those sold out too,” Mr. Hammond said. He estimated that at least 3,000 people attended the event this year. “We don’t charge for children under 12 and we don’t know how many were there,” he said. “It seemed like there were a lot more kids.”

The event kicked off with the 3rd Annual Good- night-Loving 5K, 10K, and half marathon down State Highway 61, to commemorate the famous cattle trail that began at Fort Belknap. The gates opened midmorning on a spectacular spring day, and participants crowded onto the historic fort’s grounds to enjoy a crawfish boil, Armadillo races, the firing of historic cannons by historical re-enactors, and a concert by singer-songwriters Pony Bradshaw and Flatland Calvary, among other activities.

Attendees could also purchase separate tickets for the Texas Forts Trail Wine Festival, featuring Texas wines that were served under the fort’s grape arbor – the largest of its kind in the United States.

The festival featured a new lineup of food vendors, all of whom “were thrilled,” Mr. Hammond said. “Lines were always full. We sold out of crawfish.” The only problem, caused by a better-than-expect crowd, was a need for more port-a-potties and trash cans next year, he said.

He also noticed that local businesses are beginning to hitch their own promotions to the festival, which began eight years ago – missing a year during the COVID pandemic – and is funded in part by the fort’s share of Young County hotel-motel tax revenue. The Graham Chamber and CVB stepped in three years ago to help out, and they have been effective in spreading the word about the event’s impact.

“Local businesses are taking advantage of the event,” Mr. Hammond said. “Possum Kingdom does the open cockpit airplane rides. They were taking off at Possum Kingdom and flying over. The [B&Bs] in Olney were booked up and the little gas station in Newcastle picked up business because [attendees] can’t come directly here from Graham – they have to go through Newcastle.”

Mr. Hammond said the festival went off smoothly and successfully met its mission. “The purpose of the festival is to get people who are not necessarily interested in history to come to this historic site,” he said. “The museum was full all day, so that’s the reason we do it.”