For the three years it’s been a standard event in Hillsborough County, the Crawfish Festival has been held in FishHawk on the eastern outskirts of Riverview near Lithia.
According to its chairman, Elijah Heath, it’s finally outgrown its venue and been moved into Riverview.
“We’re thrilled with this,” said Tanya Doran, executive director of the Riverview Chamber of Commerce. “This is a wonderful thing for Riverview.”
This year it will be held in the Winthrop Town Centre on Bloomingdale Avenue, and restaurants from within that center are all lending a hand. The date is May 31 from noon to 4 p.m., but meals must be ordered by May 26.
“We’ve decided to make this a real part of our community by kicking off the annual Honorary Mayor of Riverview Race during the event,” Doran said. The race is always a charitable event.
The Crawfish Festival is a project of the FishHawk/Riverview Rotary Club, and is being planned by a committee run by Heath because he is both a Rotary member and a director on the Riverview chamber board of directors.
Because the crawfish are ordered and driven from Louisiana, anyone who wishes to have a crawfish dinner must order before May 26, he said. “We will only be buying what we order so there will be no waste,” he said.
The dinners may be ordered now online at www.fishhawkriverviewrotary.org by checking single ticket at $15 or family package at $40. The single dinners include crawfish, potatoes and corn, while other foods, including hamburgers and hot dogs, are available for children and others who do not eat crawfish.
The event and parking are free. Only dinners and other food and items purchased will have a cost.
Eating is not all that accompanies the fourth annual Crawfish Festival. There will also be much camaraderie, and music by singer Mackenzie Raye and local acoustic duo Zebron and James from Tampa.
Children won’t be left out either, as Bounce Houses and face painting will be among the children’s activities.
Money from the event will go to scholarships at A Kids Place childcare; ECHO, or Emergency Care Help Organization, a local helping agency; the Brandon Outreach Clinic, which serves many without health insurance, including some homeless; the Y Honor Flight; and scholarships at three local high schools: Riverview, Newsome and Spoto.
Hats will be thrown into the ring on Sullivan Street at 1 p.m. for the race for Honorary Mayor of Riverview. This is an annual charity event of the Riverview Chamber of Commerce, with Cliff Kennedy the reigning mayor.
It’s time to pull down that favorite hat — whether it be a construction hat, a straw gardener’s hat, a baseball cap or a fedora — and prepare to throw it into the ring.
The Honorary Mayor represents Riverview at events around the community — and sometimes the state — during the next year, and each candidate has a chance to name the charity for which he or she is collecting.
Anyone with questions about the event, or who wishes to help, may contact Heath, who works at Edward Jones investments, at 813-657-2078. People with questions about the Mayor’s Race may contact the Riverview chamber at 813-234-5944.
Most questions, however, have answers on the above website.
