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Rice Festival begins, businesses close in Downtown Crowley

Rice Festival takes over downtown
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CROWLEY — Crowley is celebrating the 83rd Annual Rice Festival. The festival kicked off Thursday evening with several musical performances. All week, businesses have been preparing for the event.

"It's crazy, but it's a fun crazy," Benjamin Doughty said.

Doughty works downtown at Rice City Designs. He says they will be closed all weekend but will be down the street at the festival.

This weekend downtown will see a large crowd, which causes businesses to either shut down or stay the night. Cramer Equipment employees and its owner stay in a camper.

"We've been camping here for six years. Longer than that, we used to stay at a different lot," Amy Leger said.

Leger says it's the best thing to do.

"It's easy you don't miss anything, you're here all the time," Leger said.

Like Cramer Equipment, most businesses are already closed for the weekend, but others are preparing for extended hours. Alicia Broussard, owner of The Vanilla Bean, says she plans on serving until the festival closes at midnight each night.

"We get traffic that never knew we were here, or never come downtown, so then they become long time customers," Broussard said.

This will be her third year remaining open for the festival. She says they will serve breakfast in the morning and liqueur at night.

For a complete list of events at the Rice Festival, click here.