Crawfest 2008

Jonah Goldberg once said, "Cultures grow on the vine of tradition." His statements apply to the cultures of many different groups of people all over the world. Even college campuses have their own heritage, defined by their traditions. My twin sister goes to A&M and this is a campus that thrives on their school spirit laden with customs such as ring-dunking, making the gig-em sign, and hating Longhorns!

Here at Tulane, we also have great traditions and I am proud of the fact that I have seen many new traditions define this campus's culture post-Katrina. For example, one relatively new and now HUGE part of Tulane's spring semester is the planning and execution of Crawfest.

Crawfest is a day-long music festival that occurs on the University Center Quad. The various student governments, the residence hall associations, and alumni all contribute thousands of dollars to make this event happen. There are bands from all over New Orleans and students are given a chance to enjoy local music literally a minute's walk from their dorm rooms.

This year's Crawfest featured bands like Trumpet Shortie and Papa Grows Funk. The music ranged from jazz to funk but all of it had the same southern New Orleans feel. People from all over the city come to see all these artists play on two stages spanning the UC Quad at Tulane.

And of course, there's also the crawfish. I recently read that 98% of crawfish harvested nationwide comes from New Orleans. It's a sweet treat here and spring is just the time to enjoy it. It also does get expensive though due to its demand everywhere else and students at Crawfest get to enjoy 2 lbs of crawfish and free drinks all day long.

It all started with just one idea last year from one student . . . and now it is an $84,000 enterprise that draws visitors from all over the city. The message from this? Come to Tulane to start traditions of your own . . it's just that easy in the Big Easy!

This is Daniel Haber . . . the idea was his and he is now a key player in the tradition of Crawfest