Shrimp boil returns without crawfish

This year’s Cahaba River Shrimp Boil will have one less item on the menu on April 30: crawfish.

The Shrimp Boil is in its fourth year and will be held at Trussville Springs, near the river, from 4 to 9 p.m. Organizer Patrick Campbell said the event is free to the public to attend, but food and drink purchases support the Trussville City Schools Foundation and the Hewitt-Trussville Athlete Foundation. The event includes music, fireworks and food including shrimp, hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue. There are also kids’ activities such as cornhole and face painting.

“It’s a very family friendly event,” Campbell said. “It’s good, old-fashioned outdoor family fun.”

Campbell said the Shrimp Boil started four years ago when the TCS Foundation decided they wanted a new way to build financial support for the school system in the community. The very first boil included shrimp and crawfish.

“We started thinking about what other type of event we could have. Something different that Trussville’s never had,” Campbell said.

The Foundation charged admission that first year, and managed to sell 500 tickets despite terrible weather. It was enough for the Foundation to decide to try it again.

“It showed a little bit of promise in that 500 people paid for a ticket to stand out in the rain,” Campbell said.

The second year saw more music, good weather and enough sponsors to allow free admission. Campbell said attendance shot up to about 3,000. “That opened it up and brought in a lot more people,” Campbell said.

After the 2015 Shrimp Boil added barbecue and expanded hours from 2 to 10 p.m., Campbell said they raised $16,000. But the Foundation realized it was spending more on crawfish than they were making, so they decided to drop that from the menu.

“I guess the people in our area just aren’t that into crawfish,” Campbell said.

The Shrimp Boil will return to its shorter 4-9 p.m. time span this year and have more barbecue options. This is the first year the Student Athlete Foundation has been part of the event.

The Foundation is hoping to serve about 4,000 people at this year’s boil if the weather is good, with all the proceeds benefiting Trussville’s students, teachers and athletes. 

Campbell said that his favorite part of the annual Shrimp Boil is the music and the smell of the shrimp as it cooks. 

“It’s just that small-town, outside something to do,” Campbell said.