OPELOUSAS — “It’s got to make you feel pretty special to be from Louisiana,” said Billy Nungesser, Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor.
Nothing brings people in Louisiana together like food, especially crawfish, and on Tuesday morning, the pardoning of a crawfish brought residents of St. Landry Parish together.
This annual tradition highlights the beauty of Louisiana’s culture with cajun cooking, seasonings and crawfish.
“It’s an opportunity for us to come together with family and friends like nowhere else in the world. We take it for granted, so hopefully on this day, where we pardon that one lucky crawfish, we can remember what it means to Louisiana and how lucky we are to live here,” he said.
For 10 years now, the Lieutenant Governor pardons one crawfish on the first Tuesday after Mardi Gras.
This Tuesday, he chose the home of Tony Chacheres as the location of the pardoning. The crawfish chosen to be pardoned is Tony the Crawfish.
“I, Billy Nungesser, with the power vested in me as Lieutenant Governor of the great state of Louisiana, do hereby pardon and declare free Tony the Crawfish,” said Lt. Gov. Nungesser
During his speech, Mayor Julius Alsandor of Opelousas said, “And that young crawfish right there, you got blessed today, brother.”
The Lieutenant Governor said this celebration helps to recognize the families that bring a billion dollar industry to Louisiana.
He said, this event helps “to highlight what crawfish season means to us, and it gives us a chance to honor those families who are going out catching those crawfish, cooking them, and making it such a tradition in Louisiana.”
