St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office on duty at Louisiana Crawfish Festival

Members of the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office will be on patrol throughout this weekend’s Louisiana Crawfish Festival in Chalmette. Setting up barricades in front of the department’s Mobile Emergency Operations Center are, from left: Sgt. Eric Eilers, Capt. Charles Borchers and Capt. Bret Bowen.

St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office Dep. Richard Scheuermann, right, oversees inmate trustees as they unload barricades in preparation for tonight’s opening of the 42nd Annual Knights of Columbus Louisiana Crawfish Festival in Chalmette. Members of the Sheriff’s Office will be on patrol throughout the duration of the festival, which opens tonight at 5 p.m. and runs through Sunday at 10 p.m.

St. Bernard Sheriff James Pohlmann said deputies will be on patrol throughout this weekend’s Louisiana Crawfish Festival as it celebrates its 42nd year of serving up the tasty crustaceans every way imaginable.

Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Archbishop Rummel Council 5747, the festival, set for today through Sunday (March 23-26), draws more than 100,000 spectators annually who descend on the grounds of the Frederick J. Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette to enjoy live music, rides, crafts and plenty of boiled crawfish, as well as specialty dishes like crawfish bread, crawfish soup and crawfish étouffée.

Sheriff Pohlmann said deputies will walk the grounds and keep a watchful eye on the crowd from high above in the department’s Sky Watch center throughout the duration of the fair. Festival hours are today from 5 to 11 p.m., Friday from 5 p.m. to midnight, Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The department’s Mobile Emergency Operations Center also will be on the grounds of the festival.

With the exception of Thursday, visitors will have to pay $5 per person to enter one of four entrances on site. For more information, check out the festival’s Facebook page or visit http://louisianacrawfishfestival.com.