The Crawfish Mambo hosted the Crawfish Eating World Championship for the first time ever this past Saturday when the event took over a parking lot on UNO’s campus.

While the Major League Eating competition was open to eaters from all across the United States, the cream of the crop were predictably drawn from Southeast Louisiana. Top prizes–including a first place haul of $1,000–were given to the contestants that consumed the most crawfish in a 10-minute span.

Russell Callais of Marrero, LA scored a first place victory with 2.69 pounds of crawfish. Adrian “The Rabbit” Morgan of New Orleans came in second with 2.44 pounds, and Corey “King Voodoo” Fanguy of Gray, LA came in third place with 2.26 pounds. Callais usurped the title from Morgan, who won the competition in 2014 and 2015.

The Crawfish Mambo also held its annual crawfish cook-off, which saw 45 teams compete for the Best of Boil title. 1st prize in that competition went to Dhose Bodacious Crawfish of D&B Bar and Grill, though other awards were given out for Best Sides, Crowd Favorite and Best Decorated Booth. The cook-off’s “celebrity judges” panel consisted of New Orleans’ City Councilmember Jared Brosset, Tales of the Cocktail’s Michelle Dunnick, Gambit’s Helen Freund, WWL’s Tamica Lee, WDSU’s Randi Rousseau, Louisiana Cookin’ Daniel Schumacher and NOLA.com/Times-Picayune food editor Judy Walker.

Additionally, the Crawfish Mambo featured music from Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Rockin’ Dopsie & The Zydeco Twisters, Bucktown All-Stars and New Breed Brass Band. Our own Elsa Hahne captured plenty of photos from the party here.