Music is perhaps New Orleans’ best known export, and New Jersey residents took perfect advantage of that for the 25th anniversary of Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Fest, held at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in New Jersey from May 30 through June 1.

New Orleans staples the Funky Meters, Bonerama, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters, Dumpstaphunk, Raw Oyster Cult, Earphunk and the Tin Men were joined by other southern acts like JJ Grey, Marcia Ball, Terrance Simien and The Nth Power for an explosive weekend of music and Louisiana food.

Along the beautiful tree lined fairgrounds, there were four stages including one that featured workshops, and one that featured Cajun and Zydeco acts. There was also plenty of boiled crawfish, grilled alligator sausage, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, po-boys and beignets.

Art Neville was in great form as he lead the Funky Meters in one of the weekend’s musical highlights, as were Nikki Glaspie and Nigel Hall with their pop/jazz/funk powerhouse, Nth Power. Bonerama had many friends sit in with them, and Walter “Wolfman” Washington shredded the Jager Pavilion stage with the best R&B/funk band for miles.

All photos by Bob Adamek. Click here to view the gallery on Flickr.

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