Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival

The Cajun Catfish Festival in Conroe was a fun little street festival. We didn't play any of the carnival games or ride any of the rides because you had to pay for all of them (4 or 5 dollars for one person on one ride!), but we did listen to some music, watch the cute little girls dance, browse the vendors, and eat LOTS of food.

As the festival had "Cajun" and "catfish" in its name, I had to have some alligator and some catfish. Taylor was kind enough to take a picture of me gnawing on my Gator On A Stick under the sign. Actually, truth be told, I didn't have to gnaw. The alligator was tender, battered and fried, and delicious: it definitely ranks in my top two (of three!) alligator-eating experiences. It and the hush puppies far outshone the catfish.

The other food that I absolutely had to have were the German roasted almonds, which I had not expected to find. They weren't quite as fabulous as the roasted nuts that I had in Munich or the ones at Cincinnati's Oktoberfest, but they were still delicious. I think it would take a lot to make bad-tasting German roasted nuts.

My favorite vendor was Shayne Sauce, whose tent was filled with all kinds of jams, jellies, and other sauces. Each one came in three varieties: regular, jalapeño, and habanero. After tasting as many of the jams and jellies as I could manage with the crackers provided, I bought a jar of the blueberry jalapeño jam. The spicy jams are delicious heated up, poured over cream cheese, and eaten with crackers or tortilla chips.

Sadly, we didn't see the man who made ice sculptures at the festival last year. (I didn't go last year, but I'm told he was there.) Maybe he always comes on Sundays, or maybe he wasn't there at all this year. There wasn't quite as much to see as at some festivals that I've been to, but we speculated that maybe it picks up a little in the evening. Overall we had a good time.

Here are a few more festival photos that I didn't put in this post.
On an unrelated note, this post feels like one of those 5-paragraph essays we had to write in elementary school: introductory paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion.