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NOLA Event Will Give Free Pound of Crawfish to Vaccine Recipients

New Orleans City Council is partnering on a vaccination event next week to give a free pound of crawfish to those who receive the vaccine

Cajun Seafood is providing the crawfish
Cajun Seafood/Facebook

Another uniquely New Orleans vaccination event is set to take place next week, and this time the reward is an incentive almost no New Orleanian can resist — hot boiled crawfish.

Following multiple “shot-for-shot” vaccination events hosted at local bars over the last few weeks, in which vaccine recipients also received a free drink or shot of booze, free boiled crawfish is the latest dangling carrot to be offered in exchange for showing up to get vaccinated. Propeller, a local nonprofit incubator for burgeoning businesses, is teaming up with a New Orleans councilman, Jay Banks, to host a vaccination event with food, live music, and gift card giveaways. Best of all, those that receive the vaccine — LCMC will be distributing both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — will receive a free pound of fresh boiled crawfish courtesy of Cajun Seafood, a local chain of to-go seafood spots with longtime roots in the city.

In addition, the first 30 people lined up to receive the vaccine will also receive free gift cards to Cajun Seafood.

It’s the latest vaccination event in New Orleans to add a sweet incentive beyond a free vaccine, a trend that began earlier this month at French Quarter bar and music venue Dragon’s Den. Events at Howlin’ Wolf and Kermit Ruffins’s Mother-in-Law Lounge have since followed, and this weekend, a local strip club is joining the effort — on Friday, May 6, Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club is hosting a shot-for-shot vaccination event from 4 to 7 p.m.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has for weeks emphasized the need to improve the city’s vaccination rate, calling out the hospitality industry in particular to better track how many employees are getting vaccinated. The key to getting “back to business,” Cantrell has said, is to “make sure that the 89,000 people in our community that make up our hospitality industry get vaccinated.”

The vaccine-for-crawfish event will be held Thursday, May 13, outside of Propeller’s building at 4035 Washington Avenue from 4 to 7 p.m.