(AUGUSTA, NJ) -- Grammy winners, musical legends and authentic Louisiana home cooked cuisine awaits festival goers at Michael Arnone's 27th Annual Crawfish Fest, June 3, 4 and 5, 2016 at the Sussex County Fair Grounds in Augusta, NJ. This year's festival features 23 artists playing on four different stages, plus music workshops presented by George Porter Jr., Jon Cleary, Marcia Ball and The Atlanta Café Band.
New Orleans musical royalty headline the festival's lineup on Sunday as the funky Meters return. Meters Co-founders Art Neville and George Porter Jr. were at the very epicenter of funk since the mid 1960's, playing on many of the funk and R&B records that inspired generations of musicians. Grammy winner Jon Cleary and 5 time Grammy nominee Marcia Ball will each headline the Pavilion Stage.
A favorite thing about Jazz Fest in New Orleans is that a day of music outdoors is backed up by a night of music in the clubs. Crawfish Fest has similar special treats for fans that purchase camping tickets or King Crawfish Krewe tickets by putting on three sets of music at night on Friday and Saturday just for them. These sets are at the Pavilion Stage and in the Dance Hall, giving fest goers an intimate experience to go with their festival days. This year's sets include Bonerama, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Mike Zito and the Wheel, Flow Tribe, Naughty Professor and the Zydeco Revelators.
Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest has always been known for a fantastic variety of Louisiana cuisine. All the dishes are priced at $10 or less and bring to New Jersey the great food dishes that are hard to find elsewhere in the Northeast. The Crawfish fest will be serving Jambalaya, Boiled Crawfish, Po-Boys, Crawfish Etouffee and Red Beans and more. Full Menu
Breakfast is available for campers to purchase from 6:00am-10:00am on Saturday and Sunday, and includes beignets and more
Alexis P. Suter will take you to Church with a Gospel set on Sunday. The Dance Hall stage will be rocking this year with Amanda Shaw, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, The Revelers and David Greely Trio.
Rock and Roll and R&B are always big features at Crawfish Fest and this year you can hear From Good Homes, Cowboy Mouth, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Papa Mali, King James and the Special Men and blues singer/guitarist Samantha Fish, whose explosive first appearance during a camper's set last year had the Fair Grounds buzzing!
Cha Wa provides a unique opportunity to see masking Mardi Gras Indians performing outside of New Orleans. Quimby Mountain Band opens the Pavilion Stage on Saturday and you can see brass band ambassadors, Brass-A-Holics on the Main Stage. Be sure to visit our Food and Trade Expo held during the fest.
PHOTO OF BONERAMA BY CHUCK COOK
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
