Weekend Recap: Gator By The Bay

Sunday was Mother's Day and a family plan to head to Gator By The Bay, a cajun and zydeco music and food festival held annually near Harbor Island, across from the airport at the Cancer Survivor Memorial Park at Spanish Landing. We went last year and everyone had chairs and coolers and food, so this year, we overplanned and overpacked and took our own stuff. So it was like a fun family picnic with great music to enjoy for the duration.

I think the first band we saw were the San Diego Cajun Playboys, but the bigger deal was that Amanda Shaw was playing with them. There's a movie playing at the Reuben H Fleet Space Center called "Hurricane on the Bayou" and her music is featured in the film.

After, we watched Big Rig Deluxe for a while but decided we could see their mostly Johnny Cash covers anytime, so we wandered to the other end of the festival for more Zydeco music.

It was a beautiful day in San Diego, and I really don't know how anyone can hear zydeco music and not be put in a good mood. The dancefloors were full of people of all ages...from kids to elderly folks dancing with walkers. Everyone has their own style of dancing and its fun to watch the variety of swing styles that people use.

Even more than that, though, is the lack of judgment and self consciousness of the people here. People are all stripes and colors, all ages, all socio-economic levels, and it was hard to find anyone not smiling.

My god-sister Claudia and I decided it was time for some boiled crawdads, and lucky for us, we got some before they sold out. A lot of people were pissed that they sold out two hours before the festival ended, but they sold over 5000 pounds in two days. How could they know to bring more than that?

After, we made our way back to the first stage and watched the final zydeco band of the night. Throughout the day, we must've gone from one end to the other at least 10 times, so we chilled under a tree enjoying the sunsetting. My mom, brother in law and I kidnapped Claudia to the dancefloor which she promptly left when we set her down, but a minute later said "I dare you to make me dance" which was her invite to dance. I carried her to the dancefloor and spun her and twirled her like the big dork that I am. And it didn't matter how we looked, because nobody could take away the fun we were having.

I fully intended to go to the Casbah for The Long and Short of It and The North Atlantic that night, but even with a nap, there was just no getting me outta the house that night. A full weekend of fun and sun and booze and dorkery, I instead spent Sunday night catching up on some much needed sleep, in preparation for another week of good times in San Diego.