A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from December 10, 2006
Crawfish Capital of Texas (Mauriceville nickname)

Crawfish was almost unknown in Texas, but it was only a matter of time before Louisiana residents introduced the food to Texas in a big way. That started in Mauriceville, which was officially named “Crawfish Capital of Texas” in 1983 by the Texas Legislature.
 
Perhaps the legislature acted too soon. There are crawfish festivals all over Texas, and the Mauriceville Crawfish Festival is matched with the Old Town Spring “Texas Crawfish & Music Festival.” Is tiny Mauriceville still the capital, or has it moved?
 
 
Wikipedia: Mauriceville
Mauriceville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Orange County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,743 at the 2000 census. 
 
Official Capital Designations - Texas State Library
Crawfish Capital of Texas
Mauriceville
House Concurrent Resolution No. 42, 68th Legislature, Regular Session (1983)
   
Greater Orange Area Events
April
Mauriceville Crawfish Festival
at the fair grounds in Mauriceville on Hwy 62
music, dancing, games, auction, carnival rides and craft booths
 
4 August 1982, New York Times, pg. C3:
Down in Texas, Farmers Raise Crawfish
by Peter Applebome
MAURICEVILLE, Tex.
(...)
Twelve years after Mr. Roy started raising what non-Cajuns know as crayfish, farmers all over southeastern Texas are flooding their rice fields, buying steel traps and trying to produce the spiny crustacean, which, as the unofficial state dish of Louisiana, is traditionally thought to be as much a part of that state as chili is a part of Texas.
 
“My neighbors wouldn’t talk to me for three years,” recalled Mr. Roy, who began raising crawfish as a sideline to his more conventional catfish farm. “They said, ‘That Cajun doesn’t have a lick of sense.’ Now this place is the crawfish capital of Texas.”
(...)
The retailing arm of the Texas crawfish empire is Mauriceville, which, despite its modest population of 175, has already put up signs billing itself as the crawfish capital of Texas.
 
The main business in town is an establishment called Crawfish Capital Sales and Crawfish LaMaurice, which is probably Texas’s first real crawfish restaurant. In season it offers a $9.95-all-you-can-eat dinner that is the backbone of the classic Cajun nine-course meal—a six-pack and three platters of crawfish.
 
 
Texas Crawfish and Music Festival (Old Town Spring, TX)
For over 20 years the Texas Crawfish & Music Festival has become a tradition to over 30,000 festival goers annualy. We combine the best new sounds of Texas with the sounds of South Louisiana, boil up about 50,000 pounds of crawfish & great South Louisiana cookin’ to create the largest crawfish festival outside of Louisiana.

The Texas Crawfish & Music Festival runs the last two weekends in April. The festival is located in Preservation Park in historic Old Town Spring. Come and make a day of it, visit over 150 shops that are in the scenic streets of Old Town Spring, then venture out to the Crawfish Festival!

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Sunday, December 10, 2006 • Permalink


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