Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival To Feature Crawfish
Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival To Feature Crawfish, Cold Beer and Live Music
Set for Saturday, April 21, the Vinita Rotary Club fundraiser is Oklahoma’s largest crawfish and Red Dirt festival.
The Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival is the hottest ticket in town this Saturday, April 21.
A fundraiser for the Vinita Rotary Club, the fourth annual event will feature heaping plates of crawfish, cold beer and live music by four of the hottest names in the Red Dirt genre.
Promising to be the biggest party Craig County has ever seen, Oklahoma’s largest crawfish and Red Dirt festival will feature singer-songwriter Stoney LaRue as the headline performer.
One of the hottest acts in the Red Dirt scene, LaRue will bring a string of No. 1 hits to the Ales & Tails stage, including “Oklahoma Breakdown,” “ Feed Don’t Touch the Ground,” “Empty Glass” and “Down in Flames”. He is set to perform from 9 to 10:30 p.m.
The evening’s entertainment will also include performances by the Read Southall Band, Cameran Nelson and Whiskey Poet Society.
The fourth annual Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival will be held at the American Legion Rodeo Arena in Vinita. Gates open at 5 p.m. with Grand Lake-favorite Whiskey Poet Society kicking off the party. In addition to performing, Whiskey Poet Society lead singer Mark Chamberlain will serve as the evening’s emcee.
A rising star in Red Dirt music that sells out venues across Oklahoma and Texas, the Read Southall Band brings a unique sound to country music and to the Ales & Tails stage. That sound — a blend the band describes as “Oklahoma rock and roll, Southern rock and crunchy country” — has built a huge fan base for the band whose roots are in Stillwater. The Read Southall Band will perform from 6 to 7 p.m.
Singer-songwriter Cameran Nelson is set to take the stage from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Fuse Texas country grit with down-home rock and roll and you get Nelson, a true Texas troubadour.
A Texas Music Awards Male Vocalist of the Year nominee, Nelson has topped the charts with hits like “Shotgun,” “Happy to Beer,” “35 Runs Both Ways,” “Nothing’s Got Nothin’” and “The Little That We’re Livin’ On.”
For the tastiest part of the evening, the Vinita Rotary Club will be bringing in piles of live Louisiana crawfish, which will be boiled Cajun-style with potatoes and corn. Festival-goers will need to bring their appetites in order to tackle the two-pound servings of crawfish.
For those who aren’t mudbug aficionados, there will be fried catfish with hushpuppies and fried potatoes on the side. Other concessionary foods, like hot dogs, nachos and more, will also be available.
Soft drinks and adult beverages will be available for purchase during the event. The Vinita Rotary Club has obtained a liquor license so, in addition to beer (the Ales part of the festival), mixed drinks will be available. To commemorate the festival, organizers have created a special Red Dirt Hurricane that you’ll want to try.
Ales & Tails will also offer plenty of shopping opportunities. Craft vendors from all over the state will have a wide range of fun, original items for festival-goers to browse through and purchase.
General admission concert tickets for the Red Dirt music part of the festival are $17 in advance and $20 at the gate. Meal tickets for the crawfish or catfish plates are $10. General admission and meal ticket packages are $25.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.alesandtails.net, 360GrandLake.com or on the 2018 Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival Facebook page. Tickets are also available from any Rotary member and at Austin Brown State Farm Insurance.
All proceeds from the Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival benefit the club’s Scholarship Foundation.
Although advance T-shirts sales have ended, there will be a limited supply of 2018 Ales & Tails T-shirts available for purchase outside the gate. These shirts will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Everyone who wears their official 2018 Ales & Tails T-shirt into the event will receive a raffle ticket for a drawing to win a custom 2018 Ales & Tails event guitar. This one-of-a-kind guitar will be signed by all of the performing artists.
The Vinita Rotary Club is also offering VIP packages at this year’s Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival. A VIP ticket is $250 and includes admission to a reserved and elevated viewing area that will include private bar, dining and seating, as well as one meal ticket and one beer pass.
The Ales & Tails Crawfish and Red Dirt Festival will be held at the American Legion Rodeo Arena, located at 26585 South 4410 Road, in Vinita. Parking is available in several areas around the arena and will be clearly posted.
ABOUT VINITA ROTARY CLUB
As part of Rotary, the world’s largest service organization with 1.2 million members worldwide, the Vinita Rotary Club’s 75 members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Following the Rotary motto, Service Above Self, these club members work together to create lasting change through service projects in their community, as well as nationally and internationally. Projects supported by the Vinita Rotary Club include the Backpack Program, community cleanup day, Salvation Army bell ringing, concession stand maintenance at the Bill Morgan Sports Complex in Vinita and the Nicaragua Water Well Project. The club also provides Rotary scholarships and other youth programs, including providing local third-graders with personalized dictionaries every year. The Vinita Rotary Club meets from 12 to 1 p.m. every Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, 314 West Canadian St., in Vinita.