By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
LACOMBE – The annual Crab Festival in Lacombe has been around many years, but the 2014 edition will have a lot of new things to like.
The festival was taken over by local ownership in the past year when previous organizers said they would not be able to keep it going.
With a new name—the St. Tammany Crab Festival—the event will be held this weekend, Friday through Sunday, June 27-29 at the old location at John Davis Park in Lacombe. Gates open at 10 a.m. each day with the festival closing at 10 p.m. daily.
Not only will there be the regular two days of rock and roll, blues, Country music and Cajun music to go with great food, amusement park rides and more, but a new feature this year will be an all-day music festival on Friday titled, “Praise in the Park.”
Jennifer Baptiste is a member of Living the Word International Church in Slidell and said she received a vision from God two years ago to host a “Praise in the Park” event that would highlight Christian and Gospel music.
“There are so many wonderful festivals in Louisiana every year, but few give much time to Christian and Gospel music,” she said. “I know God showed me the vision to bring it here and fortunately the owners of the Crab Festival wanted to support that kind of event.”
The Crab Festival used to open at 5 p.m. on Friday, only for amusement park rides and the other features, but without any live music playing. Now the entire day will be devoted to praise music with live performers coming from throughout the Southeast Louisiana area.
“It’s not just for music, but several forms of praise to the Lord,” Baptiste said. “We’ve got the STEP team and Liturgical Dance team from Living the Word, along with their youth choir and puppet ministry.”
Additionally, outstanding Gospel and Christian music will be heard from The Brotherhood from Pentecost Baptist Church, Jhamarrick Campbell and Youthful Praise from Bogalusa, the Showers Family from Hammond, Mike Check from Baton Rouge, and the St. Tammany Interdenominational Mass Choir.
“One thing we hope to showcase is that we are all one body of Christ and denominations shouldn’t matter when it comes to praising the Lord,” Baptiste said. “The theme for our festival is ‘We are One,’ and I truly believe it doesn’t matter what race, denomination or religion you are. As Christians, we have the same fundamental beliefs and should all want to praise together.”
Baptiste is a lifelong St. Tammany resident who works at Ochsner Medical Center-North Shore. She said she became serious in her walk with the Lord when she was 25 and began attending North Shore Full Gospel Baptist Church, before attending Living the Word for over five years.
She was a vendor at the Crab Festival a year ago and saw the opportunity to bring the “Praise in the Park” event there, and talked with Delwin Jones, one of the new owners. Jones called her last November and confirmed the interest by the ownership to hold the event all day Friday.
Other owners who revived the Crab Festival are Kenny Jones, Michael Howard and Kevin Collins. Also scheduled at the festival this weekend will be the non-profit Cultural Heritage Village set up at the Lacombe Community Center starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while there will be a host of food vendors and other booths throughout John Davis Park.
Entry fee for any of the three days is $10 for adults, with kids 13-and-under entering for free.