New Orleans will head to Augusta, New Jersey for the 30th year in a row to celebrate the best of the Big Easy’s music and food at Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Festival. This year’s annual festival will feature Aaron Neville, a legend of New Orleans R&B, and Marcus King Band, a southern rock band. The festival will take place at the Sussex County Fairgrounds from May 31-June 2.

Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Festival has become a New Jersey tradition over the last 30 years, recognizing New Orleans for both its traditional music and tasty food. The three-day festival usually draws up to 20,000 people ready to celebrate. With over 10,000 pounds of specially imported crawfish and over 20 southern artists, Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Festival is definitely worth experiencing.

“The great thing about this festival is its incredible authenticity,” said festival creator-producer and Louisiana import Michael Arnone. “It’s so real that for everybody who’s moved up North from Louisiana, everyone who’s homesick, this is like going home for a few days.”

The festival will have three stages to ensure that music will be heard from every part of the festival. The three stages are the Main Stage, the Bulleit Bourbon Pavilion Stage (covered), and a 12,000 square foot Dance Hall with a 2,000 square foot wooden dance floor. The music spans Bayou-based Cajun, Zydeco, Delta Blues, New Orleans R&B, Brass, Gospel and Jazz. For a specific schedule, visit here.

Most of the cooking, across four food courts, is being done by people personally trained in Louisiana by Arnone himself, who learned from his father. The two primary jambalaya chefs were his father’s apprentices for ten years. All Louisiana chefs will prepare assorted south Louisiana delicacies such as fresh boiled Louisiana crawfish trucked in alive, with Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee, Alligator Sausage, Po-boys (oyster, shrimp and catfish), char-grilled oysters and Southern fried chicken. For a full menu, visit here.

To purchase tickets, visit here. For more information about the festival, visit here.