The Alligator Festival will return to Westbank Bridge Park Sept. 24-27, bringing four days of live music, food, carnival rides, arts and crafts and live alligators.
Hosted annually by the Rotary Club of St. Charles Parish, the festival draws an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people. Proceeds from the event support scholarships for local students as well as other Rotary Club programs and service projects.
Justin Goings, president of the Rotary Club of St. Charles Parish, said the annual event brings people of the parish together.
“It’s become a tradition that people look forward to every year, but what makes it even more meaningful is knowing that the money raised goes right back into our community,” Goings said.
The festival will open Thursday with free admission on Locals Night from 6 to 9 p.m. Festival hours are 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Admission Friday through Sunday is $5, while children 10 and younger are admitted free.
This year’s festival will include a live alligator exhibit featuring handlers from Kliebert & Sons Gator Tours, who will educate visitors and answer questions about the animals.
Food vendors will serve a variety of cuisine, including alligator dishes. Guests will pay individual food vendors directly rather than purchasing food tickets. Nearly 70 arts and crafts vendors will sell items including paintings, pottery, candles, clothing and gifts, and carnival rides and attractions will be available throughout the festival.
The Rotary Club held the first Alligator Festival in 1980 on the driving range at Willowdale Country Club. As the event grew, it moved to several locations before finding its current home at Westbank Bridge Park in 2000. Approximately 75 Rotary Club volunteers now help put on the festival.
Goings said he is looking forward to seeing the community come together.
“There’s something special about seeing families, friends, volunteers, local businesses, and people from all over the area enjoying the festival while supporting a great cause,” he said.
The St. Charles Rotary Club Scholarship Foundation provides more than $50,000 in scholarships annually to graduating seniors from Destrehan and Hahnville high schools who plan to continue their education at a college, university or vocational school. Each year, the foundation awards six $7,000 academic scholarships and four $2,000 vocational scholarships.
Since the Rotary Club awarded its first $250 scholarship in 1980, it has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to local students.
Goings said the festival gives the Rotary Club an opportunity to support those scholarships as well as literacy programs, local service projects and other causes.
“For the Rotary Club, it’s our biggest opportunity of the year to live out our motto of ‘Service Above Self,’” Goings said. “The support we receive from our sponsors, volunteers, and everyone who comes out allows us to fund scholarships, literacy programs, local service projects, and other causes that make a real difference in St. Charles Parish and beyond.”
The year’s music lineup begins Thursday with Tommy G & Stormy Weather performing from 6 to 9 p.m. On Friday, Will Wesley will take the stage from 6 to 7:30 p.m., followed by Paperchase from 8 to 11 p.m.
Saturday’s lineup begins with St. Charles UMC from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Quickslvr will perform from 1 to 4 p.m., followed by The Topcats from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Category 6 will close out Saturday’s music from 8 to 11 p.m.
On Sunday, Hunter Courville & Cajun Fever will perform from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition will follow from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and Rock Show NOLA will wrap up the festival’s music lineup from 6 to 9 p.m.
The festival will also feature more than 30 food booths and trucks serving a wide variety of dishes throughout the weekend. J & H Private Chefs will serve alligator burgers, fried alligator and alligator sausage. Ursula Highly Flavored will offer alligator sauce piquant, crab cakes and turtle soup. Creole Bitez will serve cheesy gator fries and shrimp and grits, and Big Pappi’s Smokehouse will offer alligator pastalaya and ribs with smoked mac.
Other vendors include Voleo’s, VeneArepas, Ma Lo’s Soul Food Kitchen & Catering and NOLA House of Roux. Festivalgoers can also find beignets, funnel cakes, snowballs, and fresh-squeezed lemonade.