Little Texas at the Fredericksburg Crayfish Festival

Fredericksburg, Texas is a medium sized town located along US Highway 290 in the Texas Hill Country. Although it is the county seat for Gillespie County, it is best known as a tourist destination. Its German heritage is on display, with a number of German and Austrian restaurants, along with a store where it is Christmas all year long! Its Western heritage is also on display with several western clothing stores, the ironworks store and several stores with large John Wayne decorated items for sale. Fredericksburg is also the heart of the Texas Hill Country's wine industry, with several tasting rooms in town and another dozen or so within a few miles of town.

It is also the home of one of the largest World War II museums in Texas (and Texas has several). Admiral Chester W. Nimitz grew up in Fredericksburg. The hotel that his parents owned is now a part of the National Museum of the Pacific War, located right in the center of town. The museum takes up an entire block, and these are not small "city blocks." If you plan to visit, it will take several hours to quickly explore the museum. It is filled with photographs and artifacts from the War in the Pacific.

Today, we went to Fredericksburg for the annual Crayfish Festival. It is a charity event, sponsored by the Jaycees, and running from May 26 through May 28 in the center of town, just across the street from the Gillespie County Court House. This year, one of the bands that will perform is Little Texas. Pay for admission to the festival, and the music is free.

When we got there, we had the perennial problem of finding parking. Most of the parking is street parking and its usually filled up, even the handicap spaces. We wandered down Main Street (US 290), doing a little window shopping. When we got to the festival, they had to look us up and issue us our attendance wrist bands.

We wandered through the booths. There was crayfish and shrimp any way you want them cooked. There was various German cuisines. There were handcrafts and assorted other "festival vendors." We found a familiar vendor and bought ourselves bratwursts for dinner. Once we got our food and beers, we headed to the music tent. We had already missed the first band of the day — the Bush Holloway Band.

After a short break, the Bayou Roux band took the stage. They were from Louisiana and their style was Cajun. They also had "Marti Gras" beads – lots of them &ndash: which they handed out liberally.

A solo performer took the stage while they change the stage. I did not catch his name.

Next, and for us, the main event:

They were pushing their new album, playing a number of songs from it.

They also played a number of their older songs, including:

• Amy's Back in Austin
• Kick a Little
• What Might Have Been
• God Blessed Texas

We had a great time!