Crawfish Corner with Martelli
It’s time for the 9th Annual CL Hawks Craw Fish Boil is May 7th @ Brookshire Brothers from 1-8 pm benefitting CLHS & MVMS Athletics. This annual event is held every year on the first Saturday of May since 2008. This benefit for all student athletes from each of these schools benefits directly in every sport at these schools.
The Hawks Crawfish Boil ( HCB) tickets are $25.00 all you can eat, which comes in spicy and regular crawfish being served with corn, potatoes and bread, beverages can be purchased at Brookshire Brothers. We will also serve up some BBQ chicken for those who don’t eat the best Crawfish in the county. We will serve BBQ chicken for $5.00 which is two pieces, potatoes and corn on the cob; you’re not going to beat this deal anywhere in the county!
If you want to pay CASH or Check -You can go to Northshore Pharmacy to get your wrist bands and tickets for the event.
The Hilltop news sat down with founder and head cook “Martelli” of the beloved mud bugs and got a candid interview on this annual CL fundraiser.
The ReSporter: So when did this all get started and why:
Martelli: “Since there was not a lot of people around the CL area who love bugs, a group of parents got together for the love of the bugs and invited others over to enjoy fellowship and talk about our new high school and little league sports while the kids all played around. The first year was the spring of 2008. It all started off pretty simple; we wanted to eat crawfish and no one around here even sold them, so necessity is the mother of all inventions, so we rolled forward.”
The ReSporter: Since that initial event, when did this event evolve into what it is today?
Martelli: “Well the first few years it was just a bunch of friends getting together to generate friendship spirit, a get together for everyone, something these parts are not known for especially back in those days. As word got out each year it grew and one day we thought there should be a charge for folks to come and give money away for the youth around here for sports.”
The ReSporter: Who did you guys support during your early days and why:
Martelli: “We all had kids playing youth football at CL Youth Football and Cheer, so that seemed logical to donate to that organization. We had already organized “Hawks Sports Camp” for kids as a fundraiser due to little league rules as a fundraiser, and so again it was logical.”
The ReSporter: What is the goal for Hawks Craw Fish Boil?
Martelli: “I would say three things: One is to get this spread out through the community as a get together once a year whether you like crawfish or not and come out and have a good time, this build continuity. Secondly, we as a community need to get behind our Schools at MVMS and CLHS, this is our ID, were all not just a pretty lake, but a community and that makes everyone aware that we have great student athletes here which are very talented, this venue can help deliver that platform. The last thing would be to be supportive of our schools and business locally and try to set good examples.”
The ReSporter: What kind of support do you get from the community?
Martelli: “If you visit our website wwww.hawkscrawfishboil.com you can see we have 16 local sponsors, many of which have been with us since our first step out of the door in 2010. We want the community to support local business and sponsors. We have volunteers every year who come and help out and ask nothing in return.”
The ReSporter: Is the support growing as each year comes around?
Martelli: “Yes! It is getting bigger every year and this time Brookshire Brothers is our newest sponsor and partner. Capital Wright Distributors has been our partner for four years and they make all of those nice banners you see hanging around town.”
The ReSporter: Where do you get these crawfish?
Martelli: “These marvelous creatures come from an old High school buddy of mine in Rosharon Texas, home of Dumisnil Crawfish farms, home of the big Texas size bugs!”
The ReSporter: How much do you cook every year?
Martelli: “Well that depends on how many folks are going to come out to eat.”
The ReSporter: how do you know who’s coming out, I mean how do you measure on how much to get since this is an All you can eat?
Martelli: “A great question deserves a great answer. I look into my magic eight ball! Uh not really, it broke a few years ago so my Jedi powers look into the future. Seriously though we absolutely ask the public to RSVP on our website to let us know if they are coming to the event. You will see, on average a person will eat 3-4 lbs of bugs with potatoes, corn, bread and drinks. Then from there you see how many folks are coming and then multiply to get the estimated number of pounds to purchase.”
The ReSporter: How much have you cooked and what will you do this year?
Martelli: “I have been a part of some monster boils- 10,000 lbs before, but at this event we will drop 1500lbs most likely and that’s enough for 300 people. We always donate bugs to Fire, EMS and the Sheriff dept. and to some under privilege people and we have never run out and I don’t intend to do so this year. I would just please ask that everyone go to the website as a first stop to RSVP.”
The ReSporter: Anything new at this year’s event?
Martelli: “Glad you asked. We will have live entertainment. Miriam Hobbs from CLHS will sing, you have to hear her sing, along with Geoff Schaffer the CL Cowboy poet and another singer. Also we will list the student athlete’s achievements for the 2015-2016 seasons of all sports from CLHS and MVMS. This will let the public know what kind of great programs we have going here right in our back yard, it is time these athlete were recognized for their achievements in public.”
The ReSporter: It sounds like a good time for all, any last parting shots?
Martelli: “I would like to invite everyone to come (even if you don’t like crawfish) out and have a good ol fashion community get together at the lake to support a great cause, for our schools. Please let us know if you’re coming @ www.hawkscrawfishboil.com – all questions can be answered there at a one stop shop and remember CL is HAWKSTRONG- 2007!”
Go to www.hawkscrawfishboil.com . Please let us know if you will be coming if possible by placing your RSVP on our website. You can prepay by pay-pal or just register. We need RSVP in order to estimate on how many pounds of Crawfish to buy- we have never run out!
Tickets will be on sale in front of Brookshire brothers this Saturday April 30th from 10am – 2pm CASH or CHECK. Walk ups welcomed, cash only!